The Aegis of Snow
by AsianSky
Summary: Anastasia really didn't expect to end up in the world of KHR after a seemingly deathly head trauma. As she's introduced to new friends one by one through a certain baseball star, she'll learn how to let her old world go and move on... though she's already a bit tired of being slung over his shoulder all of the time.
1. The Entrance of Anastasia

_Disclaimer: I definitely don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn._

_Notes: Uh... this story focuses on an OC, and is actually my first fan fic... I pretty much wrote it out of boredom, though, and because of the fact that I'm re-watching the series. Hope you enjoy! (?)_

* * *

Slowly, I feel my clear blue eyes open, and white light filters in through my eyelashes. _What?_

As the blurry images I'm processing begin to focus, so does a throbbing pain in the back of my skull. _Ouch. _It feels like I've fallen headfirst off of the Eiffel Tower.

Fluffy white objects float into my field of vision against a blue background, and I realize I'm lying on my back, staring at the sky. The irregular pattern of clouds against a clear blue background relaxes me for a moment and I close my eyes again.

My arm moves tentatively, and the ground feels rough but familiar… ah, a road.

_Wait… a road?_

On cue, I hear a rumbling sound in the distance, and I barely have time to wonder why it's getting louder and roll out of the way before a car screeches around the corner and nearly decapitates me.

_Holy shit!_

I pant, my elbows on the pavement, my body on the road. Leaves are tangled in my long brown hair, and I regret wearing a T-shirt and shorts. My head aches even more, and as I stand up shakily, black spots cloud my vision temporarily. I lean against a wall, trying to process what's going on. I have a sneaking suspicion that I've been exposed to some kind of head trauma (at least, that's what it feels like) and for a moment, I have a mini panic attack. _Where am I? Why was I lying on the road? What was I doing? What's going on?_

I try and suppress the nauseating feeling rising in my stomach and think. What should I do in this kind of situation? I vaguely remember a doctor or something from some movie I watched confirming that the victim of an accident was still sane.

"Can you remember your name?" the imaginary doctor says.

_My name… Anastasia White. _I smirk bitterly at the thought of what I would have done if I hadn't remembered my name.

"Touch each of your fingers to your thumb, please."

I slowly touch each of my fingers to my thumb on each hand, feeling extremely stupid as I do so.

"What's the last thing you remember?" the doctor inquires in my head.

This one gives me some trouble. I scrunch my eyes up even though I'm fully aware that it has nothing to do with helping me regain my memory. _Think… think…._

Oddly, the first thing I remember is a smell. Parmesan cheese. My eyes scrunch up even more at the thought of the pungent smell and at the spontaneity of the memory. As I wonder about the smell, the full memory suddenly pops into my head, like someone took a baseball containing the memory and hurled it into my ear. I close my eyes and let my brain shift to flashback mode as the memory begins.

* * *

"Go ahead, Anastasia," my father says, pointing his menu to me. His long brown hair is suspiciously moving gracefully even though there's no wind indoors and his bright hazel eyes twinkle behind his glasses. Oh yes, my father is a looker.

In my memory, I can clearly see where we are. We're sitting in a booth at a restaurant, though I'm not sure which one it is. It's only my father and I. The sounds of people chatting and dishes clinking float through the air. As my eyes shift to the menu, I see the words "Macaroni Grill."

"I'll have the toasted ravioli, please," I hear myself say.

"Really?" my father says, and I can feel myself glaring at him.

The waitress has been staring at my father the whole time and it's blatantly obvious by the blush on her cheeks that she's been ensnared by his looks. One of the many. I roll my eyes, snatch my father's menu, and shove both of the menus into the waitress's face. She blinks, holding the menus, and remembers to ask, "Will that be all?"

"Yes," my father says, and smiles disarmingly at the waitress. She practically melts as she dances away from the table.

My father turns back to me and strikes up a conversation. "So Anastasia," he begins, "I wanted to-"

But I don't hear the rest, because suddenly there's a searing pain in my head, and I feel my eyes flutter as my body jolts forward and my head hits the table. I don't even hear my father yell my name, though I'm sure he would have; all I remember is darkness.

* * *

The memory ends here, no matter what I try and remember afterwards, so I slowly open my eyes again. Hooray. The last memory I have to base my sanity on is in Macaroni Grill. I sigh and rub my temples, because the throbbing pain is still there in the back of my head, though it's slowly easing away now. It occurs to me that I haven't even bothered to assess my surroundings. I peer around, trying to figure out where I am.

The wall I'm leaning on is tall, barely reaching above my head, and really close to the shoulder of the road. Actually, it's pretty much on the shoulder of the road. I realize as I trail my eyes down its edge that it's surrounding a small two story house with a red roof. There's a break in the wall where a black wire gate stands, the opening to a sidewalk leading to the house. As a stare further along the road, I realize that there's a wall around the house next to it and every single house stretching on afterwards, neatly boxing the homes into square cubicles. The arrangement of these houses rings a bell in my mind, but I'm not exactly sure where I've seen them before.

I continue leaning against the wall (I'm too tired to do otherwise) and stare across the street to the house right in front of me. Next to the gate, there's a mailbox on the wall. A plaque sits above the mailbox, and two strange characters are etched into it: 沢田.

_The heck? Am I in China or something?_

As I contemplate what the characters could possibly mean, I feel two pokes on my shoulder. I swing my head to the right, annoyed at whatever tree branch fell on my shoulder, and stare right into a pair of warm hazel eyes. Right there, I nearly pee in my pants.

"Holy shit!" I yell rather ungraciously as I whirl to face the mystery person and jump backwards, disappointed in myself for breaking the vow of non-profanity I swore a while ago.

The mystery person also jumps back with a surprised expression on his face. We're both poised as if we're about to have a cat fight, and I use the temporary awkward silence to assess this guy.

He's well-built and pretty tall, suggesting that he's athletic as well. This is confirmed by the bag that's slung around his shoulder, in which I can see the bottom of a baseball bat sticking out. His eyes are big and hazel, uncovered by his medium-length hair, which is spiked up, seemingly naturally. His mouth slowly curves into one of those trademark grins that could be used in a toothpaste commercial, and I resist the urge to smile as well, still eyeing him suspiciously. He must have seen the corners of my mouth twitch up though, because he relaxes and places his hand on his hips. I stay in cat mode, ready to pounce at any time. Or in my case, flee.

"Hey…" he ventures. "I'm really sorry if I scared you. That wasn't my intention. I was just curious." His voice is full of warmth, and I half-heartedly wonder, _How does one talk and maintain a grin as big as that at the same time?_

"Curious?" I say. "About what?" I realize that my voice has cracked like six times since I just woke up from what seems to have been a really uncomfortable nap and blush from embarrassment. I can see his grin grow wider and I blush even more.

"Not many people are out here this early in the morning!" he exclaims, and then seems to realize something. "Are you one of Tsuna's friends?"

_Tsuna? _Automatically, a bell rings in my head."Who's that?" I say, but I have a sinking feeling in my stomach that I'm about to get whacked in the face with a realization.

"Tsuna's awesome!" he exclaims again. "He's my best friend and a good person." He lifts his arm and points straight at the house across the street, the one whose mailbox I was observing earlier. "That's his house over there."

And suddenly, I know what those two characters on the plaque above the mailbox mean. Oh God. 沢田. Sawada. In Japanese. Oh God. This _has_ to be a dream. There is no way I'm in the world of Katekyo Hitman Reborn. This only happens in movies and fan fiction. Oh God oh God oh God oh God oh God.

Yamamoto must have noticed that I've paled by about 20 shades of white, because his eyes grow a little more serious as they begin to reflect worry and his posture tenses. "Is everything okay?" he asks tentatively, and I realize that I know his name even though he hasn't told it to me yet.

"Yamamoto…" I croak, and he looks surprised that I know his name. "Where am I?"

He looks confused for a second, and then grins. He probably thinks I'm joking.

"We're in Namimori!" he says with some uncertainty about my question.

Realization has more than whacked me in the face. Realization has thrown me down, straddled me, and beaten me dry.

I try again. "What state are we in?" I whisper hoarsely.

He looks super confused at this question, and tries to make some sense of it. "State…? Well, as far as I know, we're in the solid state… it'd be weird if we were in the liquid or gas state! Haha!"

"YEP!" I scream into the air, startling him. "This is definitely Yamamoto!" I bellow. It also occurs to me that Japan doesn't have states, but prefectures, but his answer was still a little far-fetched.

I wobble a little and fall back onto the wall again, allowing myself to collapse to the ground.

"Hey!" says Yamamoto, clearly worried now. He rushes over to me and puts a hand on my shoulder. Yamamoto is truly the touchy-feely kind of guy. "You still haven't answered my question. Are you okay?"

My bitter sense of sarcasm kicks in as I bite back at him. "YES," I snap. "I'm absolutely, perfectly, totally fine! This day couldn't get any better! I'm in seventh heaven!" I snarl, and I immediately regret it, because my tone has left Yamamoto looking like a kicked puppy.

I feel my facial features soften and instinctively place a hand on Yamamoto's arms so that he won't shrink back from me. "I'm sorry," I say hastily and quietly. "I didn't mean to be mean like that. I just… I…" and I'm not sure how to explain my situation to him without sounding like I belong in an asylum.

Luckily, Yamamoto stays true to his character and brushes my bitter comments away, accepting my apology. His trademark grin makes a reappearance and almost blinds me. "It's all right," he says. "I can see that you look a little frustrated and lost right now."

He slowly lowers himself down next to me and hesitates before asking the next question. "What exactly happened?"

My mind halts. I don't want to lie to him, but I can't tell him the entire truth either… so the partial truth will have to do. "I'm… my parents are gone…" Vague, but true. "I don't really know where I am…" Eh, somewhat true. "I'm not sure how to get home…" Definitely true. "I don't have any money…" Also extremely true. "And…" I don't know how to sum it up to him without revealing too much. I've never been great with my communication skills.

_Hold up_, I think to myself suddenly, and my head snaps up. _I can't speak Japanese._ So how in the world are we communicating?

Yamamoto responds to my predicament, and to me, it sounds like impeccable English. "It just sounds like you're lost to me, uhm…" and I can tell he wants to say my name.

"Anastasia," I say.

"Anastasia," he says, and grins again. "Strange name."

I wonder why he thinks so for a moment, and then I realize once again that we're in Japan.

He's right. I am lost. I'm stuck in a fictional story without any resources at all. "I… I need some time to think," I say quietly, and he understands. He makes a move to get up, and my hand automatically reaches to grip his. I need someone to tether the remaining sanity I have to. He looks surprised for a second but then smiles, and sits back down again in comfortable silence. He's so understanding. If I were to sit next to someone like he's doing, it'd be an awkward silence, not a comfortable silence.

I try and gather my thoughts together. If only I had my iPod notepad… wait! Yamamoto arches an eyebrow as I quickly scramble into a position to give my hand access to my pocket. All I find is some lint and crushed hopes. _That's strange… I could have sworn I had my iPod at Macaroni Grill._ Assuming that I came directly to this world from Macaroni Grill, that is. The thought of that is even stranger.

Yamamoto watches me (I think I detect amusement in his expression) as I scrunch up my eyes and begin creating a mental list due to the absence of my iPod.

(1) You're in the world of Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

Point 1 still sounds rather fantastical to me, and I wonder yet again if this is a dream. I focus my mind again and proceed with my list.

(2) You can speak and understand Japanese, but you can't read it. You most likely can't write it either. Actually, you know you can't write it.

(3) You don't know how you got here, and you don't know how to get home. You don't know what you should do here either.

Point 3 brings a realization whirling into my head. _Did I die in the real world?_

I vaguely remember that in most fan fiction, people of the real world end up in the world of KHR either by dying and being escorted to Namimori by heavenly dwarves or by being dragged in by evil or desperate alternative personalities. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), I don't see any dwarves or alter-egos around, so I'm back to square one.

As I delve deeper into this train of thought, I remember something else. The theory of literary physics: a theory that states that fictional books are not created by the author, but in fact are accounts of parallel dimensions that the author is simply tapping in to and observing. I remember reading about it in a book once and thinking that it was way too bizarre to be true. According to that book, characters from these parallel dimensions can end up in our world via portals that open up when and where the earth's magnetic field is disrupted… or vice versa: people from our world can end up in a parallel dimension.

I have a couple of problems with this theory, though. First, I don't understand half of the vocabulary that has just flashed through my head. Second, why the heck would there be a portal to an alternate dimension in Macaroni Grill? And third, the theory doesn't explain my little fainting act at Macaroni Grill either.

I quickly scratch out this theory, but I take care not to completely forget it. It's the closest thing I have to an explanation right now.

I've completely given up on making an organized list in my head and sigh. As I temporarily stop worrying about the past, the weight of my future situation settles in… I have nowhere to stay and nothing to use. My dad is alone in the previous dimension (if I did indeed die… the thought puts a sinking feeling in my heart) and I'm in this dimension with no one who knows me. I glance over at Yamamoto and discover that he's sleeping, his head resting against the wall. Well… perhaps one person knows me.

I absentmindedly wonder what time it is and why I'm not doing everything I can to get back home. I'm sure a normal person would be having a panic attack instead of sitting against a wall and philosophizing about literary physics. I conclude that I'm just too tired, though it's more likely that I'm just too lazy.

I feel a pang of guilt as I suddenly comprehend that Yamamoto has probably missed his baseball practice because of me and bitterly think that my laziness is already rubbing off on him. Cautiously, I poke him slowly once, willing him to wake up, but his chest continues to rise and fall as he sleeps. I poke him a little harder and his eyes open sleepily and peer over, searching my face.

"Yoh…" he says. "What's up?"

"Aren't you missing baseball practice?" I reply as he rubs his eyes.

He blinks twice and stares at me owlishly. "How did you know I have baseball practice?"

_Crap! _I think to myself. I have to be careful about revealing what I know about this world.

"I, uh, I inferred it from the fact that you were carrying a baseball bag, and, uh, that it's really early in the morning!" I reply lamely.

He buys it immediately. "Haha, you're really smart, Ana!" He looks at me again and says, "Is that okay? Calling you Ana?"

Most people call me Anastasia, but when I hear the nickname spoken out loud, it sounds surprisingly appropriate.

"Yeah," I say. "Ana is fine." I offer a smile. It'll make this whole Japanese-English pronunciation thing easier anyways.

He grins again in response to my smile (I'm going to need to get a pair of sunglasses) and I take the opportunity to ask him something I'm wondering about.

"Hey Yamamoto," I start, and he raises his eyebrows. "Why didn't you just leave me and go to baseball practice?"

I'm curious, because it seems out of character for someone who's devoted their entire life to baseball to abandon practice for the likes of a complete stranger, and the last thing I want to do is mess up the characters of KHR. The fandom will have my head.

He seems to contemplate an answer for a while, and then says happily, "I don't know!"

I resist the urge to facepalm.

He continues. "You just looked, well, lost and confused, and it's okay to help lost people, right? Besides, today wasn't an official practice." He pats the bag with the baseball bats in it and looks up at me. "I just wanted some extra playing time."

Another question has wormed its way into a mind, but I feel like it would be awkward if I asked.

"Hey Yamamoto," I say, and he looks at me. "When did you meet Tsuna?"

It is indeed awkward, since I haven't met Tsuna and I just met Yamamoto. He looks puzzled for a moment and then responds with a grin, "Only a couple of days ago!"

_Ah… so this is still early in the series._ I ask another question, trying to pinpoint the episode the anime would be on… I'm not really a manga reader. "Do you know who Gokudera is?"

Yamamoto looks puzzled again but then lights up. "You know Gokudera too?"

Crap… I've revealed too much again. I quickly ask another question to distract him. "Do you know he has a sister?"

Yamamoto arches an eyebrow and responds, "Gokudera has a sister? Wow, Ana, you must know him pretty well!"

Episode three. We're stuck in between episode two and episode three right now. I know because Bianchi arrives in Japan in episode three. That'll probably be in a couple of days, since time passes in between episodes.

I make a lame excuse to cover up my seemingly profound knowledge of Gokudera. "No, I just heard all of this from someone else. I'm sorry for asking so many questions."

Yamamoto's grin grown wider (I swear his mouth is going to fall off of his face) and he says happily, "No problem!"

I'm at a standstill now. Yamamoto is no doubt going to set off for school soon, and I'm still not sure what to do with myself here. I'm also having a debate worthy of Congress in my mind about whether or not I should reveal that I know pretty much everything about Yamamoto's life with Tsuna for the next year. I've watched enough anime to know how keeping secrets leads to betrayed feelings and tears later. Then again, I've also watched enough KHR to know that basically anyone can do anything and end up being forgiven by Tsuna.

Yamamoto brings me out of my thoughts with a quizzical remark. "Ana?"

I think I know what I should do. "Yamamoto," I say. "I want to thank you for helping me just now. I guess I was pretty frustrated and confused, and I think you've helped me realize what I need to do."

He looks confused. It's probably because of all the "guess" and "think" that I'm using in my speech and the sudden change of tone I've had in my voice.

"I need to go now, and I'm pretty sure you do too," I say.

And, with perfect timing, Tsunayoshi Sawada bursts out of the front door of his home, his hair doing most of the bursting.

"Wait for it…" I think to myself. "3… 2… 1…"

"I'M LATE!" Tsuna shrieks, and I grin inwardly. Tsuna flails around, wrapping his bag around his shoulder while trying to keep a piece of bread in his mouth. He spots Yamamoto and his face automatically brightens as he begins scurrying over. He spots me a few seconds later and sports an expression that's a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

I take this as my cue to leave. Quickly, I lean up to Yamamoto's ear (he's just too darn tall) and say softly, "I'm sure I'll see you soon." Then I whirl around and hightail away from him faster than a cheetah on steroids. Did I mention that I do track at a prestigious boarding school that excels in athletics and academics? In my world, of course.

"Ana! Wait!" he yells, and I hear him using the kicked puppy tone advantage.

I almost stop and turn back, but it's at this moment that a certain silver-haired teenager runs right past me towards Tsuna and Yamamoto, chorusing "Juuuuuuudaaaaaaimeeeeee" all the way. He barely looks my way as he flies past me, and I continue running in the opposite direction. Episode three and he's already calling Tsuna "Tenth." His appearance reminds me of why I'm leaving Yamamoto alone in the first place: I really have no business messing with the characters of KHR. This is their story to tell.

"Please, Ana!" I hear Yamamoto yell, and his voice is quieter because of the distance.

I know that after I disappear from view, he'll laugh it off and continue with Tsuna to school, bickering with Gokudera along the way. And I'm not going to ruin that. I need to concentrate on finding my way home. I feel a slight tug of sadness in my heart. I could have been part of this world.

"Goodness gracious," I think to myself. "I sound like the little mermaid. Get yourself together!" and I abruptly stow my feelings away.

I slow down my running a bit as I put more distance between us. The trio of teens has disappeared from my view, so I calmly jog down the road through the neighborhood. I wasn't kidding when I said that all of the houses look more or less the same.

I begin to walk to ease my body out of my short marathon and focus on the task at hand. How do I get home? That's a really hard question to answer when I don't know how I got here in the first place. I consider asking one of the characters I know, but then I realize that the only one who really knows about parallel-dimension travel is Byakuran, who's not currently at my disposal. And wouldn't that defeat the point of not messing with any of the characters in the first place? I sigh.

Maybe I should look for somewhere to stay… no, no, I can't stay here if I'm going to search for a way out. What am I going to do about food, though? And clothes? I take a look at my now dirty shorts and T-shirt with disgust. I continue to ponder my situation as I wander on, going nowhere in particular.

I stop thinking when I hear a noise in the distance growing louder. I must have been really distracted before, because it sounds like it's relatively close now… it's coming from behind me, and as I turn around, I realize too late that it's the sounds of someone running. All I see is Yamamoto charging at me full speed like a bull. I barely have time to scream "What?" before he reaches me, picks me up, and tosses me over his shoulder like a sack of flour, earning an "oof" out of me. He screeches to a halt, turns around, and begins walking, with me still bent over his shoulder.

It takes me 10 seconds to regain my senses. "Yamamoto!" I screech a little too loudly. Really? Voice cracking now? "What are you doing?" I flail my arms and legs rather pathetically for someone who's been trained at an overly-athletic boarding school and attempt to squirm out of his iron grasp.

_Oh my goodness_, I think to myself. _It was not supposed to go this way. Yamamoto was not supposed to go through the trouble of stampeding through the neighborhood in order to retrieve a total stranger. Heck, I doubt _anyone_ would do that._

He hasn't answered my question yet, so I flail a little more, fully knowing that it's useless. I may be athletic, but I'm certain Yamamoto is more athletic than I am. "What are you doing?" I repeat, and he stops and turns his head around to look at me. Then he grins and nearly blinds me again.

"You're lost!" he says. "And you said you didn't have any money or anywhere to stay."

"That's my problem!" I splutter. "And what does that have to do with what you're doing now?"

His gaze turns steely and I freeze. Flailing would probably be a bad idea right now.

"You're staying at the sushi shop," he says firmly.

_Excuse me?_ I'm not sure I'm hearing right, so I stupidly say, "What?"

"You're staying at the sushi shop," he says again, and there's clearly no room for argument by the tone of his voice. Then his expression changes completely and he's using the kicked puppy look on me again. _Oh no._

"Please?" he adds, and it almost sounds like a whine. I think this manipulative baseball freak already knows that I can't turn down his kicked puppy look. I simply sigh in response and hit my head a couple of times on his back. He sports his trademark grin and continues walking, totally ignoring the aura of gloom radiating from his back. That is, me.

I can't see, but Tsuna and Gokudera are probably pretty shocked to see Yamamoto come back with a dead-looking girl slung over his shoulder. It probably looks like a kidnapping.

"Y-Y-Yamamoto!" Tsuna stammers. He sounds like a mouse. A cute mouse. "W-Who is that? What are you doing?"

Yamamoto contemplates an answer for a while, and Gokudera snaps, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Answer the tenth's question, baseball freak!"

"She's a friend, Gokudera! She's visiting town, and I'm going to need to skip school today to show her around. Sorry guys!"

"Do your schoolwork!" I scream at him. "Don't use me as an excuse to skip school!"

He gives a hearty laugh and brushes my comment off. "She has a great sense of humor guys, see?"

"Yamamoto…" Tsuna deadpans. "I don't think she's joking…."

"Oh, she is," he says with a grin still plastered to his face. He's worked his left hand behind his back and over my mouth so that I can't say anything. I resist at first, but his arms are too strong. What's with this situation? _Leave homeless people alone!_ I think to myself.

When Tsuna doesn't hear me say anything in response, I think he assumes that Yamamoto is right, because I can hear him relax. "All right then, Yamamoto, if you say so… Gokudera and I need to head to school now. We're pretty late as is…"

I hear a strange noise from Gokudera. It's probably his exuberance at finally walking to school with the Tenth alone.

"Go ahead guys!" Yamamoto says. "You can come visit the shop after school if you want. Sorry again!"

I hear Tsuna scurrying away and a "Juudaime! Wait!" Then all is quiet.

Yamamoto slowly uncovers my mouth and I choose not to say anything, settling for glaring instead. Not that glaring at somebody's back is really intimidating. He lifts me up again and places me on the ground… and I run for the hills. Unfortunately, he's anticipated my move, and I barely get an inch before an arm is wrapped around my waist.

"Yamamoto…" I whine, and he looks somewhat apologetic. "Why are you doing this?"

"Why can't you just accept help when you need it?" he asks in return, and grins.

_Because I'm already messing up this story just by being here, _I think to myself. But perhaps, maybe I am overreacting. It is kind of strange to so ardently refuse help when you need it… and I can make sure Yamamoto carries on his daily routine and search for a way home even from the sushi shop. Sighing, I cross my arms, and quickly peer at the road behind me.

"Don't even think about it," he says, and I can tell he's already poised for attack.

I sigh again. "Fine," I say. I feel like I'm coming across as spoiled and rude to him, so I smile. "Thank you."

He grins (my eyes still haven't recovered from the last one), and motions for me to follow him.

"Let's go."

And such was my entrance into the world of Katekyo Hitman Reborn.

* * *

_I apologize if that was boring! I know there are a lot of unanswered questions and non-sequiturs, but most of them are solved in the next chapter. (T^T)_

_I suppose I should congratulate you for actually being able to make it through this chapter... and thanks!_


	2. The Explanation of Aegis

_Disclaimer: Like I said, I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn._

_This chapter should answer some of the questions posed in the previous chapter... sorry in advance for being so confusing..Please enjoy!_

* * *

"I'll have the toasted ravioli, please," I hear myself say.

"Really?" says my dad. I glare at him.

A sudden feeling of déjà vu hits me. This has happened before. I realize that I'm not actually in my body, but staring at myself.

I shove our menus in the waitress's face. She waltzes away.

And it takes me two more seconds to realize this is a dream. The images are brighter and blurrier, the voices echoing in my mind.

"So, Anastasia, I wanted to-" my dad starts, but he's cut off by my little head banging act.

I expect the dream to end, or to wake up, since after this I black out immediately and don't remember anything else.

I'm surprised when the darkness lasts for only a couple of seconds and my senses slowly turn on again. My hearing comes first.

Beep... beep... beep... beep. I groggily recognize the sound as one of those monitor things they have in hospitals.

"We're losing her! Come on!" someone says, and the voice sounds super slow and echoes around.

My sense of smell comes next. I smell the sharp smell of hospital mixed with the steely scent of blood.

Then I can feel again. There are hands on my chest, wires and tubes running across my arms, an electric current repeatedly running through my body. It feels like I've been hit by a truck. I'm too tired to move.

I'm not sure if I can taste or not, since there's really nothing to taste. Only moisture from the air trapped in the little cup they have over my mouth.

My sight comes last, and it doesn't really come back. Someone forces my eye open and shines one of those annoying flashlights in it, and all I see is bright white light for a moment. I can't will myself to close my eyes.

"Pupillary response is NOT normal!" I hear in that slow and echoey kind of way again.

My eyes close again, and I feel myself let out a tiny breath. I'm so tired... just let me go to sleep for a couple of seconds...

Vaguely, I wonder why I wasn't in my body in the Macaroni Grill part of the dream but I am in this part. And just as I think that, I feel a pulling sensation, and suddenly, I'm standing by the table which I'm lying on, next to the countless doctors trying to rescue me. I would say I'm a ghost, but technically, I'm not dead yet, and this is a dream.

As I look at myself, I have to say, I look terrible. My skin has gone a deathly white and my wavy brown hair is really messy. Don't they tie it up or something when you go into an operation?

I can't feel myself anymore, but I know I must be feeling tired. That feeling when I was lying in the table... I just wanted to stop living. It was so tiring.

And as I watch the story of my own death, I feel strangely calm. It's easier accepting these kinds of things and moving on, anyways.

The monitor next to my table gives one long loud beep, and the doctors momentarily stop moving.

"She's gone," one says.

"No duh," I think. If I'm going to be a ghost, I'm going to be a bitterly sarcastic ghost.

I'm sort of surprised that I'm not bawling my eyes out or freaking out over my own death. It's probably because I somewhat expected it after ending up in the world of KHR.

One doctor turns of the monitor and another takes the cup off of my mouth (thank goodness).

They slowly filter out of the room, and the person who comes in next brings in all of the feelings of sadness that I was trying to avoid.

My dad barges into the room, indicating that he probably shouldn't be here.

His brown hair is tousled and his eyes are full of worry.

"Anastasia!" he yells. "Anastasia!"

My sarcastic subconscious thinks to herself that he looks really attractive right now and that he should get himself a wife to move on.

My pragmatic subconscious starts scolding my sarcastic subconscious for thinking such indecent thoughts and takes in the entirety of the situation.

My dad is alone in this world now, and soon, I'll be alone in another world as well. The though is too hard to think of, and the sinking feeling in my heart deepens.

My dad runs over to the table side and kneels down by my face, whispering my name over and over again. The doctors must have let him stay, because I don't see anyone coming to retrieve him.

My sarcastic subconscious wants to make a snarky comment, but recognizes the seriousness of the situation and lets me watch.

He's crying, and the sight makes me want to cry as well.

"Anastasia, don't leave me," he says, and I float over to his side. Yes, float.

With all of the little strength I can muster, I will him to hear my next statement. "I won't. I'll always be here. Always."

He head snaps up, and I think that it's worked. Isn't it supposed to be that ghosts can communicate if they put enough life, er, death energy into it?

"Anastasia?" he says softly, and my sarcastic subconscious squeals at how perfectly he would fit into a shoujo manga. "Anastasia?" he says a little louder as he looks around.

I don't have enough energy to communicate again. I can feel myself fading.

"Goodbye," I whisper, and a sudden breeze blows through the room. It gives my dad that bishounen look, with his hair fluttering around like that.

My dad's eyes widen. "Anastasia, don't go," he says. "Please."

But I can't help it. His voice is already fading, and I stare into his face up until the last moment, up until my vision clouds and I'm surrounded with darkness.

* * *

I wake up with a sharp gasp. Tears are stinging in my eyes and my face is wet.

"I died," I think. "I died." The entirety of it hits me and I sob, leaning back into the pair of warm arms surrounding me and burying my face into my pillow.

... Wait.

"HOLY SHIT!" I yell for the second time in two days and Yamamoto jumps up, promptly releasing me from his hold as well.

I've jumped off the bed, poised at the edge for any possible sex offenders, but all I see is Yamamoto sitting up, rubbing his eyes.

"Ana?" he says groggily.

I am furious. I am smoldering. I quickly wipe away my tears, crawl up onto the bed on my knees, and stalk towards him. My pragmatic subconscious tells me to give him a good whooping, but I don't really want to hurt him, so I lightly slap him across the cheeks a couple of times.

I can tell it doesn't hurt him at all, because the corners of his mouth twitch up into a grin momentarily, but he feigns being hurt and shines his puppy eyes at me.

"Ana, I'm sorry. I wouldn't have slept with you if it was going to make you this angry..."

"Slept with me!" I think to myself. "Slept with me?"

My pragmatic subconscious rears her ugly head and lets out a roar.

"It's not right to spoon with strangers!" I yell, sounding like Thor. "Especially homeless people!"

"Ana, you're not homeless," he says, and increases the intensity of his puppy eyes. "You're just lost."

This boy is frustrating me more and more.

"Besides," he says, and his expression grows serious. "You were having a bad dream."

I momentarily blanch, wondering how much he got of my "bad dream," and he continues.

"You were thrashing around, calling out names, and saying 'No' over and over again... you nearly fell of the bed." He gives a small chuckle. Then he grows serious again and says, "Then I noticed you were crying." He looks lost for a second, and I realize he's probably never dealt with a pathetic crying girl like me.

"I didn't want to wake you up..." he says, "so I..."

"You crawled in," I deadpan and complete his statement at the same time. He offers one of his goofy grins.

"Maa, maa, it's all right though, right? You calmed down afterwards and had a nice nap."

It's impossible to stay mad at this boy. The KHR series hasn't completely captured his character.

"Please?" he adds just like he did yesterday with his kicked puppy look.

I grumble something even I don't understand and then brush some invisible dust off my shoulders. It's a good thing I'm still wearing my T-shirt and shorts.

He takes my mumbling as an apology and I almost expect him to leap off of the bed and hug me with how childish he's acting, but he just continues to grin at me and rubs his eyes again.

It occurs to me that I don't know where I am. I whip my head around a couple of times and take in my surroundings. The walls of the room seem to be made out of brown bamboo or something similar. It's probably just wood, now that I think about it. There's not much inside the room. A desk, a dresser, a bed… a twin bed… I wince at the thought and peer at Yamamoto again. He's still grinning because I've "forgiven" him.

"It's the guest room," he says, and I wonder if he can read minds. "You agreed to stay here, remember?"

"Not on my own terms," I think to myself. But his statement reminds me of what happened yesterday.

After we left Tsuna and Gokudera, Yamamoto dragged me to the sushi shop, where I met his dad. Tsuyoshi Yamamoto is even more warm and fatherly in person, and he readily accepted (and even encouraged) the fact that Yamamoto's "friend" will be "staying over" for a "period of time." Way too many quotation marks for my preferences. I didn't really have anything with me, so settling me down in the guest room on the second floor of the sushi shop wasn't a problem. At least, not for him. And then for the rest of the day, Yamamoto dragged me around town, laughing and grinning the entire time. Namimori really isn't that big. Tsuna and Gokudera never did come to the sushi shop, and I have a sneaking suspicious that it's because Gokudera wanted his precious Tenth all to himself for a day.

Yamamoto gets out of bed and looks at the alarm clock sitting on the nightstand by the bed. 6:00 AM. Yamamoto has to get ready for school, I remember, assuming that it's a school day. I'm still pretty tired, and I need some time to sort out why I'm in this world and what I should do. I suddenly realize that there's no reason that I shouldn't be able to mess up the plot of the story… but just to be on the safe side, I decide to make sure that everything proceeds as it would have if I weren't here. I don't want to do anything that might make a parallel dimension explode.

"Go get ready for school," I mumble, and crawl back into the empty bed, pulling the covers over my head. "Have a nice day." Then I pretend to snore so that he'll leave me alone. As you can probably tell, I'm a really grumpy morning person.

I'm unpleasantly surprised when someone whips the covers off of my figure, and I instinctively curl up in response to the sudden coldness.

"Nope!" Yamamoto says. I'm not sure what he's responding to.

I crack one of my eyes open and peer at him. I notice that he's about to lift me off the bed, and suddenly, I'm wide awake and pressing myself against the wall that the bed is leaning against. He momentarily looks hurt that I've so avidly shrunk away from him, but then he grins again with understanding and proceeds to explain why I can't go to sleep again.

"You're coming to school today!" he says, and if I had a beverage in my mouth, I would have spit it out and coughed a couple of times.

"What?" I say, sounding stupid again.

"You're coming to school!" he says more energetically, and I'm already assessing the room for escape routes. There's a window… I'm not sure if I want to jump from the second story or not. Yamamoto takes a step forward and casually places a hand on the windowsill, leaning his body against the wall. I'm not sure if he's trying to send me a message or if he just did that out of spontaneity.

"You're lost, and you have no idea how to get home. It sounds to me like you don't know where you are or where your home is either. If I'm right, then if I leave you here, you'll sit around all day, wondering how to get home but having no idea where to start searching."

There are two sides (probably more) to Yamamoto's honesty. The first is where he's so honest that he's stupid. No offense to him, of course. It's part of his character and frankly, it makes him likable. The second is where he's so honest that even though you're lying to him and even maybe yourself, he can see right through you.

I know he's right, even though I don't really want to admit that I don't know what I should do with myself in this world. It feels wrong happily skipping off to school when I should be doing everything I can to find a way home. But there's not much else I can do when I _still_ don't know the reason why I'm here and the method of finding a way out.

I sit on the bed for a while, blinking, and he stares at me.

"All right," I say as I sigh, and he brightens. "I can't just go waltzing into the school, though. I'm going to have to leave a little early if I'm going to register and all of that stuff." It'll probably take me extra long to register into a Japanese school.

He looks confused. "Register?"

… Maybe the anime did portray him correctly.

"Can't you just come in with me and join our class?" he grins. "I'm sure it would be all right."

I prostrate myself onto the bed and beat the pillow a couple of times with my fists, resisting the urge to scream. Then I slowly look up at Yamamoto, who still looks confused.

"Just leave it to me, Yamamoto. Do you mind if I take a shower now?" I have a habit of taking showers in the morning.

He takes my response as submission to joining his class and grins wider. "Sure thing!" he says. "It's the second door to the right!"

As I clamber out of the bed and towards the doorway, I turn back and look at him.

"Thanks," I say.

He grins softly in response. "No problem."

The shower feels heavenly after two days of falling of the Eiffel Tower and being hit by trucks. I'm still thinking of how extreme it is to invite someone you've known for a day to your school. It's only after I turn the water off that I realize I have (1) no towel, (2) no clothes, and (3) no one I'm comfortable enough with to call for help to. _Crap_.

I poke my head outside of the shower curtains and notice a rack with two towels hanging from it, for father and son. Seeing no other solution, I quickly grab one of the towels and furiously begin to dry myself. I hope they have an extra towel that can replace the one I'm using right now. The towel smells lightly of deodorant and fresh milk (not spoiled milk – that would have been terrible), and I snort, thinking of how ironic it would be if this were Yamamoto's towel. Then I realize that it probably is. God I feel dirty.

_All right_, I think to myself. I've solved the problem of the towel. Now to deal with clothes. I resort to deciding to wear my T-shirt and shorts again and quickly retrieve them off of the floor. As I step out of the bathroom, a set of fresh clothes and a towel piled by the entrance to the bathroom catches my eye. I sigh heavily and scold myself for my stupidity. I should have looked outside of the bathroom first.

Quickly, I take the clean towel and swap it with the towel I used. I examine the clothes that Yamamoto has chosen for me, only to discover that they're one of his T-shirts and a pair of his sweatpants. Both about two sizes too large for me.

My clothes are a little wet and still kind of dirty from the fact that Yamamoto dragged me all around town yesterday, so I swap my shorts for the sweatpants because they look super comfortable at this moment. And they are. I switch out my T-shirt too for his cleaner one, and as I put it on, I notice that there's a small picture of a baseball on it where a breast pocket would normally be. I smile.

Both the shirt and pants are still too big for me, so I tighten the string around my waist holding the sweatpants together, roll the pants up a couple of times, and tie the T-shirt in a knot behind my back. My tomboy fashion preferences are kicking in.

I stroll back to the guest room and Yamamoto is sitting on the bed, looking kind of lost. Ah, right, he probably has to take a shower as well.

He looks me over once and approves with a grin, and I wave him in the direction of the bathroom before he can say anything else. "Go ahead and get ready," I say. "I'm going to go to the school now so I can register, and we can meet up later if you want." I'm still frowning internally at the thought of going to Namimori Middle School right after I enter the world of KHR.

"No," he says candidly, and I look at him in surprise. "I'm still not sure if you're going to run away or not, so I'm going to go with you," he says, and before my sarcastic subconscious can open her mouth, he gets up, makes a beeline for the door, and closes it. By the time I register what's happening and start pulling on the doorknob (that's right, pulling it, not turning it), I've already heard the click of a lock from the outside. What kind of strange door locks from the outside, anyways?

I groan and pound on the door a couple of times, but I already know that it's useless. I hear the sounds of the shower turning on moments later. I sigh for what feels like the sixtieth time today and sit down on the bed.

I have some time to think now, but my mind has drawn a blank. I have no clue why I'm here, I have no clue what I'm doing… and I have no clue how I died. Now that I think about it, it's kind of strange to suddenly have a seizure in a Macaroni Grill and die. Questions float around in my mind, none of which I know the answer to. I'm still wondering how I got here, but now I'm also wondering if I'm going to spend the rest of my life… or afterlife… here. What if there's something different about me in this world? What if I never age, or have some strange magical power because I'm from a parallel dimension? I highly doubt that those situations would actually occur, though. With a pang, I realize that I can't return home anymore. If I died in the real world, it's time to move on. Cheating a natural death is not something that I want to do.

I let myself fall back onto the bed with my legs still dangling off and let out a huff of breath. For the second time today, tears gather in the corner of my clear blue eyes, but I quickly wipe them away. I'm not the type of girl who cries.

The thing is, if I died an unnatural death, wouldn't it actually be right to return to my previous world? My death did seem kind of unnatural… the question in my head has shifted from how I can get home to how I died.

I roll around in the bed a couple of times and decide I need a distraction. Thinking about stressful topics for too long never works out well for me.

I'm about to get up and pound down the door so I can take a walk when suddenly I hear it unlocking and Yamamoto strides in, wearing only a towel on his waist. He barely has time to dodge the vase that I've magically conjured up in my hand and thrown at him before I scream, "Put a shirt on!"

He actually looks scared for a moment which really makes me want to laugh, but then he ends up being the one laughing, and quickly retreats out of the room.

"Okay, okay," he says. "Calm down. Meet me downstairs, all right?"

I huff in response, and he takes that as a yes, because he goes off to hunt for some clothing. I'm about to get up and travel downstairs, but suddenly, a sharp pain erupts in the back of my head, and the last thing I feel before blacking out is myself falling onto soft sheets.

* * *

I wake up to the sound of someone shuffling papers. I slowly sit up and try regaining my senses, wondering where I am. The room I'm seems to be completely white. White walls, white furniture…

"Anastasia?" a voice says, and I quickly turn my head around.

Behind me is an extremely tall, lean, and handsome man sitting at a white desk. He automatically strikes me as a supermodel. The only thing that's strange about him is that he's wearing a gladiator suit. Sleeveless top, tunic, the whole nine miles. And he has wings. _Wings_. They're beautiful wings, I must say, a lot like a dove's, about two times his height from the tip of one to the tip of the other.

He rolls his eyes as if his wings have been stared at a million times and shakes his blonde hair.

"First -" he says, and his voice brings my attention back to him. He stands up and the desk and chair he was seated on disappear with a wave of his hand. "- You're in a dream. Secondly, yes, I am an angel. Third, please get off the ground." He wrinkles his nose a little.

I notice that he's carrying a clipboard with a huge stack of papers attached to it, similar to the way an assistant would carry a clipboard.

"Do you know how hard it was to get into one of your dreams?" he says. "They always seem to be filled with your memories. I had to _make_ you fall asleep to get into this dream." He peers at me and says, "Yes, you collapsed onto your bed because I made you fall asleep. I have a lot of important information for you, though."

He doesn't really strike me as the "angel" type with all his smirking and complaining.

"Before I start talking though, do you mind if I change? I prefer 21st century clothing much more to these hunks of metal," he complains as he taps his armor. He doesn't wait for my response and snaps his fingers, instantaneously changing his outfit to faded jeans, a light blue T-shirt, and a leather jacket. The wings are still there, though, and I can't stop staring at them. It's a little hard to process that fact that an angel is visiting me in my dreams.

He looks at me gaping at his wings and sighs, implying a "why are humans so stupid" along with it.

"I'm going to change the background of this room, too, if you don't mind. Sitting in this bright white light too long is going to drive me insane."

He snaps his fingers again and suddenly we're standing on the Great Wall of China, the wind blowing through my hair.

"Eh," he says, and snaps his fingers again. Now we're underwater on top of a coral reef and suddenly I can't breathe. I flail my arms around and force my eyes open, and he's just standing on top of the reef, wings and everything, considering if he should keep this background or not. I think I see the hint of a smile on his face.

"Change the background!" I scream at him through the water, and his smile turns into a grin as he slowly snaps his fingers.

Having an angel visit you in a dream is overwhelming enough, but having a sadistic angel visit you in a dream is just terrible.

We visit a couple of more extreme places before he finally settles for the Windows XP default background, rolling green hills and wispy white clouds in a perfectly blue sky. I'm surprised to find that I'm totally dry, and he seems to know what I'm thinking, because he says, "This is a dream, remember?"

I glare at him and splutter, "Can you read minds?"

He smirks at me and says, "No, but I might as well be able to read yours. Your face is like a book."

I want to punch this angel. The thought of it just sounds so wrong, though.

"So?" I say. "You have 'important information' to tell me?"

"Yep," he says, and flips through a couple of pages on his clipboard. "You died."

_Thank you, Captain Obvious_, my sarcastic subconscious thinks to myself, but my pragmatic subconscious sees this as a good opportunity to find that cause of my death.

"Why?" I say, truly curious. "Did I have an epileptic seizure or something?"

"No, actually," he says. "It's because on June 26th, 2011, at about 12:34:07 PM Eastern Standard Time in the United States of America on Planet Earth in Dimension 5628 – that's the dimension you came from, by the way," he says as he arches his eyebrow at me in a "well, obviously" kind of way, "– the Earth's magnetic field was disrupted and a trans-dimensional portal leading to Dimension 8080 – that's the dimension you're in now," he continues and arches another eyebrow at me, "– opened up at about latitude 36.087752 and longitude -79.832205 and killed you."

He stares at me nonchalantly after flipping through the papers on his clipboard again, and I simply gape at him.

"So a portal opened up right under me and killed me? In Macaroni Grill?"

He sighs. "No, the portal actually opened up right on your head and caused severe brain damage, killing you."

A portal to another dimension opened up _right on my head_. Wow. My luck sucks.

"Your case was pretty unique, though. The portal automatically stopped all of your bodily functions after damaging your brain, but you didn't die completely. I would say… you died halfway."

_Died… halfway?_ I'm beyond understanding the cause of my death. At this point, I want to strangle this impassive angel, but I'm not so sure that would get me brownie points with God.

He must know that I'm completely lost, because he sends me a look that says "you're stupid" and explains it in simpler terms: "Basically, your body died, but your soul – or your subconscious – didn't… you died halfway. A subconscious can exist for a period of time without a body though… you've heard about the theory that when a person dies, their soul remains intact, like a light bulb fading out?"

I nod dumbly, because I don't want to seem anymore stupid than I already do to this genius angel.

"This is where it gets confusing, though," he says, and I want to wake up already. _It wasn't confusing before?_

"Most people's bodies continue breathing and such for a period of time in a comatose or slowed state while their subconscious fades, but yours was shorter than normal. That's because some of your body and some of your subconscious was absorbed by the portal when it opened over your head."

I stare at him in shock, and he quickly explains. "Most of your subconscious was still intact in this dimension, so it was able to fix your body based on its previous knowledge so that you wouldn't look all mangled and stuff." The corners of his mouth twitch up at this, and I want to punch his twisted personality. "But as a result of the decreased amount of subconscious and the energy it used to repair your body, it only remained intact for about half an hour before you completely and fully died."

Normally, I would have millions of questions to ask, but it's hard to ask questions when you don't understand the concept.

"And this is where the miracle happens. As your subconscious faded out of your dimension, it faded _into_ this dimension."

_Huh?_

"Attached to the parts-" he coughs "-of your body that were transported to this dimension, your subconscious was able to recreate your body and, using some of the life energy retained by the bit of subconscious that entered this dimension when the portal opened, basically give rebirth to itself."

He looks at me expectantly, as if he wants me to nod and then go on to explain the Theory of Relativity, but I'm afraid my mind is a bit too muddled at this moment. All I know is that

(1) A portal opened on my head.

(2) I died.

(3) Half of my body and half of my soul went through the portal.

(4) I died again.

(5) The rest of my soul went through the portal.

(6) My body grew back like some sort of bacteria or something.

(7) Now I'm skipping around in the world of KHR.

My thoughts are interrupted by a comment from the angel. "Your body took a long time to recreate itself," he says. "On a road, nonetheless. It's a miracle you didn't get run over by a car and die for a third time." He smirks, and my fist twitches. Ooh, it would feel so good to punch all of the heavenly crap out of this angel.

"Anyways, I'm just here to inform you of your options now. Given your unique situation and your second life…" I hear him mutter "YOLO my ass" under his breath, "you can either choose to ascend to heaven now (given that you've met the requirements in your previous life) for a final judgment, or live out your second life and then face a final judgment at the end of this second life." He looks up from the clipboard papers he's been flipping through and narrows his eyes at me. "Choose wisely."

To me, it seems obvious that option two is the more favorable one, but I become paranoid when he narrows his eyes at me. Will choosing to live again harbor some negative consequences for me? Now that I know I can't return home and that I wasn't sent to this dimension for any particular reason, I'm not sure what I should do.

I look up to the angel and ask, "Are there any consequences for me if I decide to live in the world?"

He looks at me for a moment and then shrugs. "Nope. You might not be able to ascend to heaven if you live scandalously though." He smirks again.

I glare at him, and he actually sighs.

"Look," he says. "Angels can't lie. They can be pretty annoying, but they always tell the truth. If you decide to live in this world, there won't be any consequences for you. If you live as you did in the previous world, you should be fine. In fact, I there are some advantages to living in this world for you."

I raise my eyebrows at him, surprised by both his sudden change of attitude and the fact that I might have advantages in the world of KHR.

"Since your body and soul jumped directly into another dimension from a previous one, there was a time discrepancy. By about two minutes. You can stop time for about two minutes in this world."

I feel my mouth drop open and hang there for a couple of seconds. He looks at me in disgust. "Please close that. You look like a fish." It annoys me because I know he's telling the truth.

"All you have to do is focus on the last memory you had before the portal opened – your memory of lunch with your dad at Macaroni Grill. If you focus hard enough (which, you haven't yet), time in this world will stop for about two minutes as a response to your body trying to catch up with the time of the dimension it's originally from. You can do this as many times as you want, since time will resume in this world after about two minutes. During those two minutes, you'll be able to do anything you want."

I'm not sure whether to be nauseated or excited – nauseated at the fact that I have to remember that cheeky waitress dancing away from my dad every time I want to stop time, or excited by the fact that _I can stop time_.

"My father!" I suddenly yell, and my heart lurches. He's alone in his world now….

"He'll be okay," the angel says. "He moves on. In fact, he makes some true friends in the years after your death and begins to live again. He never forgets you though." And I'm reassured, because I know it's the truth. It doesn't make it any less painful though.

"In any case, you'll be able to see him again after he's lived his life and ascended to heaven." The angel flips through a couple of pages on his clipboard. "With the way he's living, there's nothing preventing him from entering."

I want to get off of the topic of my dad, so I turn my face down and ask, "Anything I should know about stopping time?"

"Yes," the angel says, totally unfazed by the change of topic. "During the two minutes in which you stop time, you'll be able to move around at a normal speed while everyone and everything else is frozen. For example, let's say you decide to move a piece of paper while time is frozen. When time resumes, the paper will have basically moved from one location to another in 0 seconds."

I arch an eyebrow, but he continues before I can interject.

"Normally, because it's traveling so fast, it would most likely catch on fire. In this case, though, there's an exception. Since you're moving objects in literally no time at all, there's no friction. And since there's no friction, no heat is created, and no fire is created. Basically... you can move whatever you please in your two minutes of stopped time. Also, since you yourself are moving at a normal speed, you'll be unaffected when time resumes."

The angel seems to know what I'm thinking, because he offers some advice next. "Please limit your use of your new skill though. I'm sure you already know that stopping time isn't natural. We don't want you to end up using your skill to conquer this world or something."

He rolls his eyes, probably thinking that a fish like me would never in a thousand year be able to conquer a world.

"Besides, you can't just stop time for two minutes, have time resume again, and then stop it for another two minutes. If you stop time too many times in a row, you'll cease to exist in this dimension."

He looks at me again and dives into some unfathomable explanation. "Using your skill too much will stress out your body, which is struggling to restore itself to the time of its previous dimension. Stopping time more than once in one hour will most likely cause your heart to stop."

"So once every hour?" I venture, wanting to make sure of the limits of my possible death.

"At the maximum," the angel responds. He starts to wind down the conversation.

"And just so you know, you have no obligation whatsoever to fulfill any purpose in this dimension," he says. "I know some people of your dimension write… what is it called? Fan fiction? Yes, fan fiction, in which beings traveling from one dimension to another must fulfill some purpose… but there really is no reason for your appearance in this dimension other than chance."

He pauses and stretches his wings outward for a second as if they're cramped, and then continues.

"You might have to worry about the plot of this 'story' though… this dimension is just as real as yours, and the books that are based on this dimension in your world are simply the author receiving images of this dimension in his or her head. Since it seems like that author has just begun to tap in this dimension, you're going to have to try and not disrupt what normally would have happened if you want the story of this dimension to remain the same in your dimension. Oh yes, another thing… even though you're in this dimension right now, you're still technically from another, so even if the author taps into the dimension, he or she won't be able to see you. So you won't end up in any of his or her books."

My fried brain has gotten absolutely nothing from his speech except for the one warning that I should try and leave the plot of KHR alone as much as I can.

The angel flips through some more pages on his clipboard. "What else do I have to tell you… ah, yes, language discrepancy."

I raise my eyebrows at this, since I'm curious as to how I can understand and speak Japanese. The angel launched into some hypothetical explanation.

"The fact that your subconscious has rebuilt your body in a separate dimension automatically applies some advantages to your body. First off, any language you hear in this dimension will automatically be processed by your body and translated to your mother language before it reaches your brain. The same is happening with your voice, but in a kind of reverse way. To yourself, you're still speaking in your mother language, but the people of this dimension hear you in whatever mother language they're comfortable with, since their dimension has registered that you're from another dimension and is inherently processing your words for you. Reading and writing doesn't work the same way though, since it's really hard to naturally change your senses of sight and touch."

I don't have a damn clue as to what the angel has just explained to me, but I've managed to weasel out the fact that I'm able to understand and speak every single language in this world. Oh my.

"And finally, I'll leave some ground rules of Heaven that apply to you. First, no returning to a dimension you've deceased from. That means you can't go back to the dimension of Earth, or this dimension if you die in it. Second, you can't tell anyone about any supernatural abilities or characteristics you have or have gained – that would be your time stopping skill. You should live your life out as naturally as you can, and keeping your skills a secret will also eliminate people who will possibly target you for your skill. Third, you can't tell anyone about me, or afterlife, or any of this," he says as he waves his arm around in an extremely vague manner. "And fourth, you can't tell anyone about separate dimensions or trans-dimensional travel. Don't dwindle on your previous dimension. Move on. Otherwise you'll never really be a part of this dimension." He's serious when he says this, and I nod in return.

"Normally, I'd erase your memory of me and leave the facts, but a basic personality check shows me that you can pretty much be trusted with all of the information I've just told you."

He rubs his chin, thinking for a moment, and then starts talking again. "There are way more rules of Heaven, but I can't think of any more that apply to you. You're about to wake up anyways. I'm glad I caught you in a dream. I can't act as sarcastic in reality. Gotta live up to the whole 'angel' thing."

He smirks again, and I'm actually kind of glad I met him. He's cleared up a lot of the confusion I had upon entering this world.

"Ah – you're waking up now, he says," and indeed, he is starting to fade, along with the hills and clouds in the fake background. "Goodbye, Anastasia. Have fun with your second life. And be sure to follow everything I've told you!"

My body has dissipated, and all I'm left with is visions of my dream fading. "Wait," I hear myself say, and my voice is starting to echo. "I never caught your name."

"Aegis," he says in response. "It means Protection or something like that."

I snort, and the last I see of him is his responding smirk.

* * *

White light floods my vision. Slowly, I realize that it's coming from the window of the guest room in Yamamoto's sushi shop, and I sit up, rubbing my eyes. Well, that was an informative and strange dream.

I hear footsteps from the hallway outside and Yamamoto pokes his head into the guest room, looking someone curious.

"You're still here?" he says with a grin. "I thought you were going to wait downstairs!"

His statement makes me realize that practically no time at all has passed between the time I blacked out and the time I woke up. _How did Aegis fit his award-deserving speech(es) into such a short dream?_

"S-Sorry…" I mumble in response. "I was just a little tired…" I look over at Yamamoto in his school uniform. "At least you found something to wear," I grumble.

Yamamoto laughs his trademark laugh, approaches me, and pats me twice on my back.

I smile at him softly, suddenly grateful for his hospitality. "Come on," I say. "Let's go. You're going to be late for school." He grins and begins leading the way.

* * *

_The plot of the actual anime begins in the next chapter... I apologize again for my writing skills (or lack of thereof). Thanks!_


	3. Scorpions and Cows and Reborn, Oh My!

_All right, I'm putting out a new chapter early because I won't be able to put out another for maybe another week and a half or so..._

_Summer volunteering is taking up most of my time and soon, I'll have to start preparing for boarding school next year. (;_;) _

_I want to apologize again if the beginning of this story was confusing... my friends tell me that my mind is too creative._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Unfortunately._

* * *

After Tsuyoshi has dished out breakfast, Yamamoto realizes he's forgotten his school bag and bolts back upstairs to sort out his books and pack up.

Tsuyoshi is scooping out some leftover rice in a bowl into a sink behind the bar, and I sit on one of the stools, placing my elbow on the counter and bracing my head in one hand. My mouth is hanging open slightly and my eyes are halfway closed from that fact that I still feel like I need three more hours of sleep. A sudden comment from Tsuyoshi wakes me up.

"Be a good friend to Takeshi for me, all right?"

I'm momentarily confused at his request, and he uses the temporary silence to explain himself.

"He needs a friend that he can truly rely on, someone he can talk to when he isn't grinning, or someone he can chat with without worrying about his popularity. He needs a real friend."

I'm at a loss concerning what I should say in this situation, mainly because I've always though of Yamamoto as the type of person who doesn't worry about these things. Doesn't his popularity at school automatically say that he has a lot of friends? Then I consider what Tsuyoshi has said, and realize something. True friendship doesn't really find Yamamoto until he meets Tsuna, and then Gokudera, and then the rest of the family. He's never had a friendship as close as Tsuna's. The thought isn't completely foreign to me. I was never the type to have close connections in my school either, preferring to spend time with myself instead. Yamamoto doesn't strike me as the type of person who enjoys spending time alone, though. As I think more about his relationships, I realize that his story is somewhat sad.

He's constantly surrounded by people who admire him, praise him, seek him out for his athletic skills, but ultimately, he's like frosting on a cake that's already good enough to eat. He's used as a symbol of popularity, a disposable certificate that serves the purpose of making the receiver look good. It must be terrible, being constantly tempted into acquaintanceship by every single person around you, only to run into a barrier of falsity when you try and create a deeper friendship out of that acquaintanceship. That's what Yamamoto has had for most of his life. A handful of people who only want to somewhat know him for his popularity, and no true friendships.

A new thought pops into my head. Yamamoto might not need friends... baseball is truly his passion. As long as he has baseball to play, he might be able to live in a satisfied way. But how long is it going to before he realizes that entrusting his feelings to baseball alone will never provide him with true emotional satisfaction and the experiences of friendship?

Tsuyoshi continues talking in light of the awkward silence that arises while I think my philosophical thoughts in my head.

"He has me to talk to any time he wants," he says, "but he needs someone else that's around his age that he can trust. I think he's already found a couple of people... that boy, Tsunayoshi-kun. He's closer to that boy than anyone else I know. Gokudera-kun as well... he hasn't argued like that with someone in ages. I think it keeps him entertained and helps him relieve stress. I know it's strange of me to ask someone that both him and I barely know to be a good friend to him... but there must be something about you for him to grow so attached to you in less than 48 hours." Tsuyoshi grins. "Right?"

Two days is a very short amount of time to develop a friendship, and I wonder why I'm already so comfortable around what would be a total stranger. Actually, I should be asking myself why _he's_ so comfortable around _me_. It dawns upon me that this friendship would be practically impossible in any other situation: it only exists because of the knowledge of Yamamoto I already have and his easygoing, all-accepting personality. With any other character in this world, I'd be rejected pretty fast.

My thoughts start winding down. I think I understand what Tsuyoshi is trying to say. Yamamoto is _the_ super dependable and understanding baseball star... but he needs someone else who can be dependable and understanding for _him_.

I break out of my thoughts and make eye contact with Tsuyoshi. "I'll try my best," I say, and I truly and sincerely mean it.

* * *

On the way to school, I vaguely wonder if Yamamoto wants to meet up with Tsuna and Gokudera so they can walk together. Then I remember that in anime terms, this dimension should be overlapping with episode three, and Gokudera hasn't established that habit of lurking outside of Tsuna's house in the morning, waiting. Why did the trio see each other yesterday then? Ah... it was most likely just coincidence. I'm still tired from waking up too early and my thoughts aren't exactly in line.

I quietly nibble on the bread that Tsuyoshi has given me for breakfast and look at Yamamoto, who's drinking a carton of milk. Darn me and my awkward silence.

Tsuyoshi had insisted that I eat more for the "most important meal of the day," but I'm not exactly used to eating rice and sushi for breakfast yet. When I asked him if he had any cereal, he stared at me in a funny way (what is this "cereal" you speak of?) and stepped into the back room where the refrigerators are, curiously mumbling stuff about "American-style breakfasts." No cereal was found, but he did have a ton of milk. A ton.

Yamamoto and I pad along quietly, and I'm finding the silence overbearingly awkward. I need to say something. Now. _Talk about the weather!_ I think to myself. _Talk about school! Talk about global warming! _Instead, my mind rejects all of these ideas and blurts out something totally unintentional and random.

"I'm glad you're my friend."

I quickly look away afterwards, wondering what the hell I just said to make this situation even more awkward than it already was, but it's somewhat sincere, as well. I'm grateful for his hospitality and his acceptance.

He lowers his milk for a moment and peers at me in surprise. Then a grin stretches across his face. God, it's so perfectly _white_.

"I'm glad that you're my friend, too," he says, and I can tell that he means it. Exemplifying the phrase "actions speak louder than words," he steps closer to me and slings an arm around my shoulder.

I curse myself for making the situation infinitely more awkward that it already is and attempt to not walk like a cardboard plank due to the arm around my shoulder. I'm not really used to being Christian side-hugged, but as we continue walking, I get used to it and loosen up.

Yamamoto begins pointing out sights in Namimori that he forgot to mention yesterday, and before I know it, we've arrived at the place I've seen so many times already on paper and in screen. Namimori Middle School. Or Namimori Junior High, in Japanese terms. It's a bit different in person. Perhaps the walls aren't as yellow? I'm not really sure myself, but I dismiss it as the discrepancy between anime and reality.

It's still pretty early in the morning, and I realize my statement earlier telling Yamamoto that he might be late for school was totally inaccurate. A couple of early birds are filtering in, and Yamamoto removes his arm from around my shoulder in order to point in the direction of the front office as I follow him there. He waits outside while I step in.

I approach a medium-high desk, and a lady scribbling down some notes looks up at me and smiles. "Can I help you?"

"Uhm…" I say. "I'd like to enroll in this school please."

She arches an eyebrow. "Enroll? Today?"

I realize that it's probably kind of far into the school year already, though I can't pinpoint exactly when. My memory of episode three is really rusty… and I have got to stop thinking of this world as an anime.

I smile apologetically and say, "Yes, please. I just arrived in Japan yesterday and I'll be staying here for a while and attending this school." I'm not sure what else to say given my situation. I'm not even sure if what I told her about staying was entirely true.

Luckily, she seems to understand and says, "That's perfectly fine. I just need you to fill out these…" she rolls her wheely-chair back, snatches a couple of forms out of various boxes, rolls back over, and hands them to me, "… and then return them! Are you wanting to start today?"

"Yes, please," I say, and she looks down and types a couple of things onto her computer. A sheet rolls out of the printer and she hands it to me.

"All right! You've been placed into class 1-A…"

I nearly fall over when I hear that.

"… and you schedule is printed on here! I believe your first class is mathematics… oh, but please remember to fill out those forms I gave you before leaving, since you're a new student."

It occurs to me that she can probably tell I'm a foreigner from my light brown hair and clear blue eyes. I smile politely and thank her before settling down in a chair and starting on the forms.

The forms cover basic information. Name, age, birthday, gender, etcetera etcetera. I quickly fill in my demographics and freeze when I reach the information about my parents or guardians and address. _Oh no. What do I do? _It's going to look really suspicious if an orphaned homeless foreigner enrolls in a Japanese middle school.

I'm too preoccupied with my situation to notice that Yamamoto has walked over and is looking over my shoulder. He notices my troubled expression and asks me a question, snapping me out of my oh-crap-what-do-I-do trance.

"Hey, is everything okay?"

I look up, and for the first time in this dimension, I really want to tell someone the truth.

"Yamamoto…" I start, and my voice catches in my throat. He looks at me expectantly, and I return his gaze, my eyes already apologizing for so abruptly saying what I'm about to say.

"About what I told you yesterday..." I pause again, debating about whether or not to go on. He would have found out sooner or later... right?

"I don't have parents anymore. I don't have a home anymore." My voice is flat and monotone, coated with a facade of indifference to disguise that pain that I actually feel about it underneath.

He gazes at me in response, not with pity or sadness, but with understanding, and I realize that he's probably pieced that together already with the little information I've given him about myself.

Quietly, he takes the form and pen from my hands, and writes down a couple of things.

"Hey!" I say in a somewhat subdued manner. "What are you doing?" I stand up to peek over his shoulder (which is impossible – just too darn tall – so I look on from the side) and I see that he's filled in my guardian box with some characters I don't recognize. It's pretty ease to guess what they are, though. Tsuyoshi Yamamoto.

"Yamamoto!" I hiss quietly, not wanting to attract the attention of the office lady. "Yamamoto, you can't do that!" I reach to yank the pen out of his hand, but he turns his back to me, and the game of merry-go-round-the-pen begins. I see him writing down his address while he spins around, avoiding my desperate attempts at grabbing the forms and pen. We're both pretty athletic, so it probably looks like some ninja fight to the office lady, who has raised her eyes at us in suspicion.

Then abruptly, he stops, and I snatch the pen. My victory dance gives him the perfect amount of time to stride over to the front desk, grin his trademark grin, and say, "These are her forms, miss. Thank you for enrolling her on such short notice!" He gives a short bow and then walks back over to me.

My victory dance is quickly cut off and I gape at him, a sinking feeling hitting my stomach.

"Yamamoto!" I hiss again as we exit the office and walk toward classroom 1-A. "What have you done? You know that Tsuyoshi isn't my real guardian! And I don't really live at your shop!" A sudden image of me getting arrested by the FBI for identity theft pops into my mind. Okay, there are a couple of things wrong with the picture, but you get the point.

"Yamamoto!" I say a little louder, and he just slings his arm over my shoulder in response.

"Maa, maa! It's all right, isn't it? I really don't mind if you act like my sister or just say that you're crashing at my place. You can always change it later anyways, right?"

I sigh. It's too hard to argue with his honesty and optimism. By now, he's realized that my sighing is my stubborn way of caving in and he grins as we approach classroom 1-A.

As he walks with me with his arm over my shoulder, I look down at the ground, suddenly interested in my feet. "Thanks," I mumble quietly, not specifying for what. He doesn't respond, but I know he understands.

When I look up again, I can see someone else approaching the classroom from the other side. It's hard not to guess who it is after noticing the huge tuft of spiky chestnut brown hair situated on his head. Tsuna radiates an aura of timidness and sincerity, and I wonder how it is that his huge eyes can fit on his head. As he walks, movement at the base of his feet catches my eye. I squint. Something is attached to the shin of his right leg... _oh my goodness. Is that Lambo?_ I try and remember what happens next. If Lambo is clinging to Tsuna's leg… Tsuna has just met Lambo yesterday. He's going to meet Bianchi today at lunch. And right now, Tsuna is about to open the door and…

"Good morning, Tenth!" Gokudera stands smiling ear-to-ear at the door of the classroom.

"Wah, Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna jumps back in surprise.

Yep. Things are falling into play, and I take this as my cue to leave the plot alone.

"Yamamoto," I say. "I'm going to go introduce myself to the teacher. You should go say hi to Tsuna and Gokudera, all right?"

My reasoning sounds logical, and he complies in return. "All right! I'll catch up with you later, okay?"

"Okay," I say, and as we reach the door of the classroom, I slip past Gokudera and step inside, leaving Yamamoto outside to interact with Tsuna and Gokudera.

"Oh, you're still playing the Mafia game? Looks like fun! Let me join the family thing too!" I hear Yamamoto say in a playful tone behind me, and I smile. I have to admit, knowing the future (or at least parts of it) is pretty cool.

I quickly focus on the task at hand and locate the teacher, a middle-aged man with glasses and a business suit, and suddenly I'm extremely aware that I still haven't changed out of my huge sweatpants and T-shirt.

I walk up to him timidly, and he looks at me expectantly.

"Hello, sir," I say. "I'll be a new student starting in your class today, and I wanted to introduce myself." I fidget around for a while. I'm not that great around adults. "Also, I apologize for my attire. I haven't received my uniform yet, and this was all that was available to me."

The teacher looks pleased at my formality and says, "Yes, yes, welcome to our class. There's still a while before class starts, but when it does, please step outside. I'll call you in and you can introduce yourself, all right? I'll give you your seating then."

I nod, and he continues. "As for class material, you'll have to find someone in the class to update you on what we've done so far… I'm afraid I can't really help you with that."

"That shouldn't be a problem, sir," I say, and I smile. I give a small bow and start to retreat. "It was nice meeting you." He turns back to some paperwork and I look around. The classroom looks much fuller in person.

My attention is drawn back to the entrance to the classroom when I hear a "Juudaime!" from, needless to say, Gokudera, and then a "Come back before class starts!" from Yamamoto. The sounds of running feet follow, and I think about what's supposed to happen next. Ah yes, Tsuna meets future Lambo, who has a little skirmish with Reborn, and ends up coming back to class late and getting scolded.

Yamamoto approaches me and grins, saying, "So? Are you settled down?"

"Pretty much," I respond. "Where did Tsuna and Gokudera go off to?"

"Ah, Tsuna had to return some kid home so that Hibari wouldn't get mad… I told him to come back before class started, though!"

I laugh in response, and Yamamoto stares at me.

"What?" I say.

"Nothing," he says. "It's just the first time you've laughed!"

I ponder this for a while and say, "Come on, everybody has a sense of humor, right?"

He grins and initiates a conversation, which I continue until the bell rings. I remember that I have to step outside and wave to Yamamoto as he finds his seat. I slide the classroom door closed behind me and wait. Oddly, I'm not that nervous about introducing myself. Okay, so I probably look strange because of my overly-large clothes and foreign appearance, but friends have never really mattered to me before. I was pretty much a loner at my previous boarding school, and I didn't have any true friends. I used to teach myself skills to entertain myself… that's probably why I'm so good at certain things.

"You can come in now!" I hear from behind the door, and I slide it open. Chin up, boobs out… okay, maybe not too much of the latter… and step, step, step, step. I walk in confidently to the classroom.

I see a couple of raised eyebrows at the color of my hair and eyes, and a couple more at the clothes I'm wearing, but I don't let that affect my performance.

"Nice to meet you," I say, and I'm surprised at how calm I sound.

"My name is Anastasia White. I'm from America." _That's true._

"I'm 14 years old."

When I say this, I realize that most of these kids should be in high school already… but then again, middle school is equivalent to junior high school in Japan, and junior high school ends around age 15.

"I like…" _What do I like?_ "…using computers, exercising, and animals." _What?_

"I dislike –" but my statement is cut off, because Tsuna chooses this time to re-enter the class room.

"S-Sorry I'm late!" he shrieks, and chuckles can be heard around the classroom. I don't see Lambo anywhere, so I'm assuming that the plot has continued on as normal.

"No-Good Tsuna again?" someone says, and he seems to shrink a little.

"HEY!" Gokudera yells loudly from behind Tsuna and barges into the classroom. "Who said that about the Tenth? I'll kill you!"

"Hie! Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna screeches, but the teacher interrupts them both.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi! Gokudera Hayato! How many times have I told you to come to class on time?" Tsuna bows his head shamefully and Gokudera just scowls and looks away.

"I'm not going to warn you again," the teacher says. "You'll have extra work to do next time. Now please find your seats."

Whispers flitter around the room, and I get the gist of most of them. "Dame-Tsuna is so lame… Dame-Tsuna can't do anything right… Dame-Tsuna got in trouble again…."

"Quiet please!" the teacher says, and turns to me. "Please continue your introduction."

Voices are still floating around the room, so I stare at the class for a while. Then, when I resume talking, my voice is so steely that it scares even myself.

"I dislike…" I say, and the class falls quiet. "… people who are cowardly enough to bully other people."

My voice must have had the effect I wanted, because some of the students's mouths have dropped open. I leave the class in silence for a while, give a curt bow, and make my way to the first seat that I see open, smiling to Tsuna along the way. He looks startled, and I realize it's probably because a total stranger and foreigner has just stood up for and then smiled at him, which is unprecedented in his life.

The seat located in the second to last row and fifth column of the grid of desks is unoccupied, and it gives me a pretty good view of the backs of the entire class, as well as the board. I see movement from the corner of my right eye and look over to see Yamamoto waving at me. His seat is in the back of the classroom too, and we can easily see each other. I smile and give a small wave back.

Class passes by in a blur. It's most likely because I'm still tired (I'm always tired) and it feels like I'm sleepwalking through the world of KHR, but it's also partly because I've learned most of the class material already. I tune out automatically when I realize that they're still learning Algebra I. At my previous school, we've already dived into advanced Algebra II.

My eyes close momentarily, and I jerk my head up just in time to prevent it from smashing into the desk. Stay awake. Stay awake. My self persuasion fails and ultimately, I fall into a fantastic slumber. I'm woken up two times by the teacher, who hurls a piece of chalk at my face and demands the answer to a question, but I'm saved by the fact that mental math is my forte. I can quickly scan over the problem on the board and solve it in my head while I'm reading it. There goes my good reputation with the teacher, though. I sigh, and soon, I'm back in dreamland.

I wake up for a third time just in time to hear the teacher announce that the class will be taking a short math test. Collective groans can be heard around the classroom. I'm a little surprised that I have to take a math test on the first day of school, but when I look up and see the teacher glaring at me, I realize it's punishment for sleeping in class. Whoops.

The math test is beyond easy. Considering I've covered all of these concepts already and that math is basically the same problem repeated over and over again, I could easily score a 100 without any doubts about my work. Not to mention that it doesn't require me to read Japanese. Halfway through the test though, I realize that everyone who gets a 100 has their name called out after the tests have been graded, and I'm not really one for drawing attention to myself or establishing myself as the classroom nerd. So I swap a positive sign for a negative sign in one of the problems. That should get me a 98 or 99. I can picture the teacher triumphantly marking a big red "X" over my negative sign.

The bell for lunch rings right after I complete my sign-swapping, and I hand my paper to the person in front of me to pass to the front. Students are already making a beeline for the door, but I just slouch in my desk, already regretting my decision to enroll in school. What's with this dimension and me feeling like I've been hit by a truck? My body is sore all over from sleeping in these uncomfortable desks. "Don't sleep, then," my sarcastic subconscious sneers at me, and for once, my pragmatic subconscious nods in agreement and adjusts her invisible glasses.

I wave my hands around my head, trying to get both of them to stop flittering around and bothering me.

"Ana?" a voice says, and I freeze. It occurs to me that I look like I'm doing a tribal rain dance. "What are you doing?"

Slowly, I look up at Yamamoto, but he's grinning, probably finding my actions funny.

"There was a fly," I say. "You know. Somewhere."

He buys it immediately (it's just too easy for him) and changes the subject. "Want to eat lunch together?"

I blanch as a couple of realizations hit me. First, I don't have any lunch. Second, Yamamoto should be on the roof, eating with Octopus-head and Tsuna. And third, Bianchi makes her dashing entrance on the school roof during this lunch period. Ugh. I think I'll leave the plot alone in this case.

I start my response slowly. "Sorry, Yamamoto, but I don't really have any lunch today… I think you should go eat with Tsuna and Gokudera on the roof, anyways. Eating on the roof is super nice. I'll go get something from a vending machine…" Then I realize that I have no money and there's no vending machine. "… I mean, I'm not really that hungry, so…" I trail of, and I'm completely aware that my response sounds choppy, cut off, and really suspicious.

He doesn't seem to hear my answer at all, because he suddenly grabs my arm with his iron grip and almost literally starts dragging me out of the classroom, grinning the whole time.

"Yama-!"

He holds up two bento boxes and cuts off my exclamation.

"My dad figured that you wouldn't have anything to eat, so he made some extra sushi for you. And you're right; eating on the roof is super nice, so why don't you come and eat with us?"

I'm wise enough not to struggle against Yamamoto's grip, but I do so anyways, initiating a game a tug of war in the hallway. As for eating on the roof…

"I'm allergic to the sky," I splutter, and Yamamoto stops struggling momentarily.

"Really?"

I blink twice and stop struggling as well. Saying yes would just be cruel. "No."

"Oh," he says, and grins again. Then he takes total advantage of the fact that I've stopped struggling, lifts me up, and tosses me over his shoulder (again) before I can even open my mouth. I would scream, but he's worked his hand over my mouth again, knowing from experience that I have a pretty sharp tongue.

I want to flail my arms and legs, but I'm afraid of attracting unwanted faculty attention, so I wait until he opens the door to the roof and I can feel the wind to begin waving my arms and legs around and shouting into his hand.

He gently puts me down and I jump into ninja mode, facing him and poised for attack.

"Yamamoto!" I bellow furiously. I'm about to charge at him when a squeal from behind me causes me to freeze. The squeal is followed by a "Oi, baseball pervert, what are you doing? How dare you show such idiocy in front of the tenth!" and then the sound of a dynamite being lit.

I slowly turn around to face Gokudera, who's holding the dynamite, and Tsuna, who's frantically trying to put it out. They both stop and stare when they see me, taking in my sweatpants, blue eyes, messy brown hair….

"The new student…" Gokudera scowls, and then has a light bulb moment. Tsuna seems to have realized as well. "You're that girl we saw yesterday morning!"

I'm not exactly sure how to respond to Gokudera's distrust issues and Tsuna's anxiety issues, so I give a small awkward bow and say, "Nice to meet you. I'm Anastasia, but you can call me Ana. I hope we get along well."

Gokudera "tsks" and says, "Yeah, we got that from your introduction this morning," and I kind of feel like duct-taping that mouth of his shut.

Yamamoto strides over to his two companions and puts an arm around each.

"It's all right, isn't it? Ana is super nice and cool." He looks up at me. "I'm sure they won't mind if you eat lunch with us!"

Gokudera is about to explode into some sarcastic rant, but is silenced by his precious Tenth, who still seems to remember how I stuck up for him this morning.

"I'm glad I could meet you, White-san." He offers one of his small smiles and I really, really, really want to run up to him and hug him. The anime has captured _maybe_ one-tenth of his actual cuteness.

I settle instead for a cough and then stumble upon a realization that makes my cheeks turn beet red. Tsuna has just called me "White-san." So what have I been calling people since I got into this world? I cup my mouth in horror, looking a lot like _The Scream_, as I realize that I've already created "intimate connections" with Yamamoto, his dad, and every single other person I've directly addressed.

The trio of teens is confused at my sudden change of expression and eyes me with confusion and suspicion.

"Ana…?" Yamamoto starts, and I notice that he's jumped to non-formality with my nickname as well. Probably because I addressed him as "Yamamoto" the very first time I saw him. "Are you all right?"

"Y-Yeah!" I say shakily. "I'm fine, Yamamoto… kun."

Yamamoto wrinkles his nose at the sudden change in formality. He takes his arms off of his buddies, walks over to me, and places a hand on my shoulder. I eye him suspiciously, still not convinced that he won't throw me over his shoulder again.

"You know, I was totally fine with you using just 'Yamamoto.' I wouldn't even mind if you called me 'Takeshi.' And truthfully, I'd like to keep calling you 'Ana'…."

I've gone stiff as a plank of wood again. I'm not sure what to say… I'm just somewhat humiliated.

"We're friends, right?" Yamamoto says sincerely, and his grin relaxes me a bit.

"Yeah," I say. "Yamamoto."

"Takeshi" will have to wait for another time.

Yamamoto takes his hand off my shoulder and tosses me a bento box, which I catch with ease. My previous boarding school has trained me pretty well in the reaction time department.

"Let's eat!" he says, and before we sit down, I give another small bow to Tsuna and Gokudera.

"I hope we'll get along, Sawada-kun… Hayato-kun." I scrunch up my face a little at calling Gokudera such a formal name. Is that even right? Hayato-kun? Japanese is way too confusing for the likes of me.

Yamamoto approaches his friends again and the trio walks over to the other side of the roof and sits down, launching into a conversation about how disastrous this morning was for Tsuna.

I follow them for a while, glance around, and sit down awkwardly, somewhat askew from their little group, and begin unraveling the cloth around the bento box Yamamoto has given me. I've always wanted to see this roof in real person. I let my thoughts wander as I settle down, and crack open the lid to the bento box to find a full-blown sushi course inside. Wow. It's a good thing that sushi is one of my favorite foods. I pick up the pair of chopsticks I find inside the box and begin chowing down on Tsuyoshi's (or should I say Yamamoto-san's?) heavenly-tasting sushi.

Three loud thuds end my train of thought, but I already know what they are. I'm not sure if I should be excited or apprehensive, but I decide to get up and inch closer to Yamamoto, not wanted to be singled out by either Bianchi or Reborn. Who, while we're on the topic, should be appearing in about 3… 2… 1…

"It's better if you don't eat that." The voice sounds surprisingly natural in real life, even though it's so high. It reminds me of what a rubber duck would sound like, though I sure as hell wouldn't say that to Reborn.

"You'll go straight to heaven with one bite."

Yamamoto has stood up along with Tsuna and Gokudera, and I stand by his side eating my sushi while he quietly munches on his sushi and watches with mild interest.

"Oh, Ana?" He grins. I'm getting used to his blinding grins. "Interesting, isn't it? Tsuna's lunch is purple!"

I, once again, resist the urge to facepalm.

Reborn snags everyone's attention again when he calls out to a seemingly empty space, "Come out. I know you're there, Bianchi."

The group collectively gazes at the door to the roof on the other side of the building, and right on cue, it swings open, revealing Bianchi striking a suggestive pose.

"Ah, the girl from this morning!" Tsuna exclaims incredulously.

I wait for Gokudera to double over, but he holds out for a surprisingly long time, whispering "B-Big sister" in a horror-filled (and painful-sounding) tone before shadowing his expression and then falling to his knees, clutching his stomach, which makes noises that are surprisingly consistent with the sound effects I heard in the anime.

Bianchi's theme song is already playing in my head as she walks across the roof, heels clicking on the concrete. I pretty much know what's going to go down next, so I strike up a conversation with Yamamoto, who isn't really participating in the revelation of Bianchi either.

"Nice weather we have, huh?" Wow. I'm so lame.

"Got that right," he says, grinning and eating sushi. "Gokudera has a cool sister, huh?"

"She's pretty," I agree. I pop another piece of sushi into my mouth. "This sushi is really great, Yamamoto. I've got to remember to thank your dad."

"It's no problem," he says. "He enjoys making sushi, anyways."

We both turn back to the conversation about Bianchi killing- I mean, Tsuna accidentally dying so that Bianchi can reclaim her love. Her speech is coming to an end, and she turns around, casts a forlorn look over her shoulder at Reborn, and then clicks away, leaving the group in silence. It seems as if she's basically ignored everyone except for Reborn (who she loves) and Tsuna (who she hates), and I'm fine with that. I'm not exactly the type who looks forward to having a poisonous panini smothered in my face.

Yamamoto finishes chewing on a piece of sushi and then turns to Tsuna, breaking the silence. "Gokudera's sister sure is pretty."

Out of all the comments he could have chosen….

The sounds of Gokudera struggling to keep his digestive system intact bring our gazes to the ground, where he's keeled over in pain. "Oh?" Yamamoto says, like he _just_ noticed that Gokudera was bending over.

Tsuna gives a small shriek of concern and since no one seems to be moving, I tentatively voice the most obvious thing to do in this situation.

"Uh, guys? You should probably bring Goku- Hayato-kun to the nurse's office." Can I just call him Gokudera already?

"Good idea, Ana!" Yamamoto says. He bends down, picks up Gokudera, and slings the bomber over his shoulder in one smooth motion like he's done to me twice already. Ouch. That does not look like it's helping Gokudera's stomach any.

He begins walking towards the entrance to the roof, Tsuna scuttling along behind him, and me tagging along behind the two. Tsuna insists on helping carry Gokudera, so Yamamoto lets the bomber down a little and drapes one of Gokudera's arms over Tsuna. I would stay on the roof, but I didn't catch where Reborn disappeared to, and frankly, it makes me really paranoid.

I've barely reentered the building when a sharp pain explodes into my head and I stumble. It takes me about two seconds to realize that some sort of dart has wedged itself right between my eyes.

Tsuna is chatting with Yamamoto right in front of me but suddenly I can't hear what they're saying, because it feels like every muscle in my body is screaming at me to sleep.

None of them notice when I'm yanked back onto the roof and the door closes quietly before I pass out into darkness.

* * *

The first thing I feel when I wake up is the pain in between my eyes. I rub the bridge of my nose, wincing, and I feel a small hole where the dart probably entered my skin. Ugh, this is going to leave a terrible scar.

My body is sore all over from sleeping in an awkward position on the roof (I've got to stop making a habit of passing out) and I begin to stretch when a high pitched voice stops me in my tracks.

"You have two seconds to spill the beans before I shoot your brains out."

I slowly turn around. Reborn is standing above the door to the roof, pointing a gun straight at my face. "One," he says, and I'm not exactly sure what he means, my mouth slightly open. By the time I realize what's happening, it's too late. "Two," he says with a gleam in his eye and boy-oh-boy I'm really glad for my a-little-above-average reaction time because I barely roll out of the way of those three bullets which would have skewered my brains.

"Hold up!" I yell loudly, scrambling backwards on my butt, probably looking like a frightened animal. He's pointing the gun at me still, so I opt to make up some I'm-just-an-innocent-person crap and crawl away.

"What do you want from me?" I ask incredulously. "I haven't done anything wrong!"

"I'm interested in you," he replies nonchalantly, examining his gun. Er, Leon. "I've done basic background checks on every student in the school, but it seems as if there are absolutely no records of your presence on this planet except for the school enrollment forms you've just filled out." He glares at me with his beady eyes. "Who exactly are you?" Then he shifts the gun in his hand, making his intentions clear.

Crap. What do I do? My pragmatic subconscious has hightailed out of my body and is hiding behind some invisible rock. My sarcastic subconscious is behind the same rock, laughing at me. Neither of them is really offering me any advice in this situation.

I could stop time... but considering that it would be my first try, it would probably take too long. And what would happen after the two minutes were over? Reborn would kill me. Literally.

"I-I-I-I-I..." I stutter, and he raises an eyebrow. "I'm not from here..." I say vaguely, and roll out of the way of another bullet.

"That's pretty obvious already," he says, and if he could roll his eyes, he would. "I just want to know your relation to Tsuna and us, since I can't find out myself," he says.

"Friend," I quickly say. "Not an enemy." I already know that I need some way to prove it, and I also know that there's no way I can escape Reborn without revealing at least a little bit of my secret.

"Let's just say I know a lot about what's going to happen to Tsuna in the future, and I want to help you." Vague, but good enough.

"Then tell me," he says, and I think quickly.

"What do I get?" My pragmatic subconscious cheers at me from behind the rock for so intelligently reversing the situation.

Reborn fires a bullet, promptly reminding me that the situation hasn't been reversed.

"What do you need?" he says, and once again, I have to think quickly. Food. Clothes. Resources.

"Money," I say, and he raises an eyebrow before a thick wad of yen comes flying out of nowhere and nearly hits me in the face. Nearly. My reflexes are my savior today.

"That should last you about a month," he says, and I nearly choke. He's probably giving me the money because he knows he can kill me and take it back of I'm lying.

"Now spill," he says.

_Spill what?_ I think to myself. _Does he want me to tell him Tsuna's entire life story?_

Reborn doesn't take my hesitation too lightly, because a couple of bullets sink into the concrete near my feet.

I scramble backwards a bit and start talking, fast, my words blurring together.

"Bianchi replaces the cake that Kyoko is going to bake in the next class period with poison cooking because she knows that Tsuna will have a higher chance of eating it if Kyoko asks him to but you end up shooting him with a bullet that lets him eat the poisonous cooking without dying so Bianchi goes off to bake another cake to kill him but adult Lambo shows up during that time and Bianchi mistakes him for Romeo and ends up smashing the cake into his face and walking away."

I stop talking because I'm about to choke, and take in a deep breath of air. My memory of what happens next is also failing in light of the gun pointed at my face.

Reborn stares at me gasping for breath for a couple of seconds and then lowers the gun, which turns back into Leon and crawls up onto his fedora. _Thank goodness._

"If what you said is true," he says, "I'll be visiting you again soon."

_Crap._

"If it isn't..." he says, and his eyes gleam maliciously, "... well, _nobody_ will be visiting you soon."

I gulp. You'd think that if you've already died once, you wouldn't be afraid of death again.

Reborn doesn't say anything for a while. I think this means I can leave, but I'm not sure, and I don't want another dart through my forehead, so I stay still.

"You're not from this world, are you?" says Reborn out of the blue, and my mind freezes.

Both sides of my subconscious are freaking out from the rock they're still hiding behind, and I have no clue what to say. How the _HECK_ did he find out?

I put on my best poker face and respond in the calmest tone I can manage, but I succeed only in looking and sounding like I'm pooping.

"How would you know if I wasn't?" I croak.

He smirks. "I can't read your mind. And I can read the mind of every being from _this_ world."

My mind freezes again. My brain is going to turn into ice cream if this keeps happening.

His sudden revelation surprises me a bit, but when I think about it, I realize I would have been dead a long time ago if he could have read all of the bitter comments in my mind.

"And with that," he says, drawing my attention back to him, "I must go. I'm afraid I'm being targeted." He jumps up into the sky with a smirk and disappears right as a steel tonfa flies through the air and slams into the roof where he was just standing, nearly causing me to wet my pants.

I stare at the tonfa, which has basically punched a crater above the door, and turn around shakily, already knowing what – or who – I'll see.

There stands Hibari, in all of his glory, gripping the other tonfa in one of his hands and poised for attack.

He narrows his eyes at me. "You," he says, and I really am on the verge of wetting myself. "Class has started. Being late for class is against school rules. I'll bite you to-"

I don't have to wait for him to finish his statement before I snatch my wad of yen, make a dash for the roof door worthy of the Olympics, and hightail my ass out of there.

* * *

_Anastasia is a rather spasmodic OC... I still haven't fully sorted out her personality yet. I hope it develops as the story progresses!_

_Once again, thanks for reading, if you were able to tolerate my writing. (T^T)_


	4. Celebrate With Cake

_Really short chapter! I apologize profusely for offering only about 2,500 words... but this chapter did come out a bit earlier than I expected. It'll pick up soon, if I can find time. (T^T)_

_Also, for those wondering about the title of the story, it doesn't come into play until much later... (O.O)_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. I think I own Anastasia, though... (O_O). *Whispers* human trafficking..._

* * *

My cooking skills are the poster definition of average. This is proved when I manage to get a 5 out of 10 on my cake in home economics. Pink frosting, yellow fruits, and chocolate flowers adorn the cakes of the other girls, while mine sits there, brown and already a little cold. It literally looks like piece of bread. Oh well.

I tag behind the rest of the group on our march back to classroom 1-A, looking at my cake in contempt. Changing dimensions doesn't change the fact that I'm socially awkward. Perhaps I'll befriend Kyoko and Hana… I shake my head at the thought. I'm not really the type of girl who would fit in with them. Haru's personality is much more suited for Kyoko's than mine.

As I trail along behind the girls, a certain purple-haired woman appears out of nowhere with a nasty looking cake in her hand and calmly falls into step with the rest of the class, making her way into the middle of the group, where she can see all of the girls. God, it's so obvious. I almost want to laugh at how everyone continues to chat and walk as if Bianchi was just another molecule of oxygen. Anyways, if the plot is to continue as it's supposed to, Bianchi has to switch her cake with Kyoko's… so I wedge my way into the center of the group and tap Bianchi twice on the shoulder. Bianchi automatically whirls around and I nearly receive a face full of poison cooking, but she manages to restrain herself when she realizes it's just another girl. The rest of the class parts around us like some sort of amoeba or something and continues walking, totally oblivious to the two of us who have stopped in the hallway. It's actually kind of disturbing.

"What do you want, girl?" Bianchi asks me in a somewhat annoyed tone, and I think she remembers me from the roof this morning because she's regarding me as if I were someone extremely suspicious.

I skip the banter and cut right to the chase, mostly for the sake of avoiding some kind of poisonous food in my face.

"Kyoko, the girl over there with orange hair –" I point at Kyoko at the center of the groups of girls, which is receding down the hallway at an alarming speed, "– is Tsuna's love interest. Switch your cake with hers."

Bianchi widens her eyes in surprise momentarily, but I can tell she's still suspicious. Her next question confirms her attitude.

"Why should I trust you?"

I consider my answer. Then I moisten my eyes a little, lift my cake up to my heart, and kick one of my legs up behind my back.

"It's for the power of love," I whisper dramatically.

This wins her over immediately. Her eyes shine over and I think she squeals. Then she grasps one of my hands with her own (the other hand on both of us is carrying a cake) and tells me with an eager expression, "Finally, one who understands! I'll put your information to good use and succeed in exalting the power of love!" I do everything I can not to grimace and end up showing Bianchi a somewhat crooked smile.

Then she rushes off to carry out her diabolical plan, and I limp on behind her. I say limp because I think my leg cramped when I kicked it up behind my back.

The girls have arrived outside of classroom 1-A, and it's pretty easy to hear the excited muttering of the boys inside. Hana has emerged as leader of the group and takes a deep breath before slamming open the door (like a boss) and loudly announcing, "Today we'll give the cakes we've made in home economics class..." She pauses (for dramatic effect?) and as if all the girls in class 1-A are mentally connected to each other, a collective squeal of "To the boys!" erupts from every woman except for me. I don't think I got the memo.

The reaction of the boys is instantaneous, jumping up and down and what not. Yamamoto and Tsuna are a little more logical and settle for questioning each other.

"Tsuna," Yamamoto says in a cheesy voice, "have you decided who you're going to take it from yet?"

His statement awakens a third side of my subconscious – the dirty side – and I before I know it, I'm unintentionally imagining Tsuna as a super uke, pointing a finger to his lips and looking shy.

"I want to _take it_ from _you_, Yamamoto-kun."

I know I shouldn't laugh, but I can't help it and nearly fall on the ground cracking up. I refrain from doing so because I don't want to ruin my poster-definition-of-average cake. Or bread. I do cry a little bit, though, as I chuckle silently to myself.

Cakes are already being exchanged (it's somewhat fair now that Gokudera isn't here), and a sudden exclamation from Tsuna – "Wait, where are you? Huh, where did she go?" – as he runs into the group of girls indicates to me that Bianchi has successfully carried out her cake swapping and is now hiding behind the classroom door.

I tune out of the conversation that Tsuna is now having with Kyoko about "not liking sweet things" and focus instead on the grueling task of disposing of my own cake. Half of the boys are standing by awkwardly like I am, watching the girls, who are complaining about Gokudera's absence and eyeing Yamamoto. I can already tell that the baseball star is going to be the target of most of the cake dishing.

He seems to think otherwise, though, and steps forward himself, taking advantage of Tsuna's "refusal" of Kyoko's cake.

"Ooh, they look really good! Can I have one too?" By "one," he's referring to Kyoko's cake, which is now poison cooking à la mode.

I peer back at Bianchi, who's staring at Yamamoto in horror with an "ABORT MISSION" expression stamped onto her face. Her little cake switch will have been useless if Yamamoto ends up eating the poisonous cake.

"Aaaaah!" Yamamoto opens his mouth with an almost comical sound and lifts the piece of purple cake up to his mouth, only to have it pimp-slapped out of his hand by Tsuna, who looks like a full-blown ninja with his hand in the air like that. I would have pimped-slapped it out of his hand too if I hadn't known that Tsuna was going to do it.

I'm just face-palming at the fact that both Kyoko and Yamamoto (and actually, the entire class) haven't already noticed that Kyoko's pink, frilly, chocolate cake has been replaced by a gross, sickly, purple cake that has _worms_ sticking out of it. _Worms_. Japanese people must be blind.

The sound of two gunshots from the other side of the school rings through the air, but no one seems to notice (or care) except for Tsuna and I. Moments later, Tsuna gets hit in his head with a flaming red bullet and in what looks like his crotch with a flaming purple bullet. I know that the purple bullet actually hits his stomach, though. Taking a peek through the school window, I see Reborn perched on the ledge of a classroom window in the distance, lifting up his sniper rifle, which turns back into Leon. Can he see me from there? My question is answered when he looks straight at me and tips his fedora, confirming that the information that I gave him was accurate. Whew. I get to live.

Tsuna has gone into Dying Will mode, and I realize this is the first time I've seen him like this. His eyes are full of fury in a way that I could never imagine and his tiny pupils tremble slightly. It would actually be pretty scary if it weren't for the fact that he's wearing only his boxers. His orange and yellow polka-dotted boxers.

"I'll eat cake with my dying will!"

He leaps into the air like an acrobat, catches the slices of cake that he knocked out of Yamamoto's hand and off of Kyoko's plate in his mouth, and munches on them furiously. Those pieces of cake should have fallen to the ground a _long_ time ago.

"It's good!" he says in his rough Dying Will voice (I highly doubt he would sound like that if he was actually dying), and I take a peek at Bianchi again to see her panic-stricken reaction.

"The poison cooking isn't working!" she gasps.

"No duh," I think. My dirty subconscious has been replaced by my sarcastic subconscious.

Tsuna isn't done though. "Not enough!" he screams, and begins to swipe pieces of cake off plates, eating them along the way, much to the misfortune of the class. I see this as a perfect opportunity to get rid of my "bread" and hold out my cake, waiting for Tsuna to breeze past me and shove it in his mouth. Instead, he breezes past me and knocks his shoulder into my plate, sending it flying – along with my cake – into the air. Oh well. That works too. My eyes follow my cake as it makes a perfect arc in the air and lands… into the hand of Yamamoto Takeshi. He's poised like an outfielder in baseball, and his hand grips the plate with the cake still on it as if he's just caught a home run.

I'm momentarily surprised, but it's not that unexpected. Yamamoto is a baseball player and son of a sushi shop owner. Wasting plates is taboo in his book.

So while Tsuna snatches the rest of the cake of the room and hungrily finishes chewing, I approach Yamamoto and strike up a conversation. He eats my "bread" happily as he carries on the chat. He mentions the "hole in my face between my eyes" from the dart Reborn chucked at my face and I tell him that I ran into a pole. He actually buys it. The class gangs up on now normal Tsuna in the background, but we both ignore him like this is totally normal, Yamamoto out of optimism and me out of knowledge. I'm still kind of iffy as to why the class is perfectly fine with Tsuna getting naked in the classroom but mad at the fact the he ate their cake.

Our attention is caught when a loud explosion comes from the hallway and pink smoke filters into the room. Ah. This marks the arrival of adult Lambo.

Tsuna sums it up nicely: "Adult Lambo appeared!"

The way he says it reminds me of Pokémon… "A wild Adult Lambo appeared!"

Movement from the corner of my eye catches my attention, and Reborn has entered the room. I have no idea how. He's holding a photograph, and I inch closer to him (very, VERY cautiously) to see what it depicts while the sounds of Bianchi arriving and registering "Romeo" carry on in the background.

Reborn notices me and makes no move to murder me violently, so I relax. A bit. He might even trust me a little now that I've given him accurate information. I sigh as I think of how I'm going to have to deal with him coming back to me later.

Reborn is now showing the photograph (which turned out to be the one of Bianchi and Romeo on a boat or something) to Tsuna, who's still in shock from many, many things.

I know what's going to happen next. Lambo receives an unfortunate three-layered poisonous cake in the face, and Bianchi stalks away, forgetting her entire purpose of coming to Japan: killing Tsuna.

I'm a little absorbed in my thoughts and don't really pay attention to the little cake fest outside. I idly wonder where the teacher of this class could possibly be. He must be taking one awfully long trip to the bathroom or something.

Tsuna's noises from outside of the classroom break me out of my thoughts. I step over to the doorway and peer out into the hallway, where a very agitated Tsuna is trying to wake up a very purple-faced adult Lambo.

"Maybe medical treatment ten years later will help him," Reborn smirks, and Tsuna pauses - I think he doesn't get the joke or something - and then wails, unsure of what to do.

I sigh, pick my way through the confused classmates who are idly standing around in the hallway and wondering what in the hell they just saw, bend down (I notice Reborn is gone when I do), and place a hand on Tsuna's shoulder. He looks up at me timidly, still not too certain of my friendship, and I smile. It's like trying not to scare away a puppy….

"Home economics period is almost over," I say. "It's a good thing we didn't cut into another period. Let's get Lambo to the nurse's office and clean up this mess, all right?"

I'm trying to sound logical and practical, and Tsuna looks relived that someone has finally taken action.

"Y-Yes, White-san!" he says, and I smile again. Then I take my hand off his shoulder, look up, and make eye contact with Yamamoto. Once my eyes are locked on his, I roll my eyes down to Lambo. Yamamoto understands immediately and bends down, picks up Lambo, and slings him over his shoulder, spraying poisonous cake everywhere. Luckily, it seems to have lost its effect after being smashed into the face of an innocent person.

Yamamoto looks back and grins at me, and I return him a genuine smile.

Tsuna looks a bit fazed at this rough treatment of Lambo and has stood up, so I turn back to him and say, "Don't worry. We'll make sure that Lambo gets proper rest in the nurse's office." Then I point my eyes in the direction of the classroom. "But I think you should go back and give an explanation to Kyoko."

Tsuna's face turns a slight shade of pink at the mention of Kyoko, but he nods gratefully and turns towards the classroom.

I'm about to go hike after Yamamoto, who's already having his own little adventure hoisting Lambo across the hallway, when Tsuna turns back to me and says, "Thanks, White-san."

I pause. "Call me Ana," I say in response, and then turn and walk away, a smile on my face.

* * *

_This is a shout out to everyone who's reviewed... truthfully, I wasn't expecting any reviews at all, since I'm just writing for fun, so it means a lot to me. The advice is appreciated!_

_Hayate the Soul Reaper was wondering what 'spasmodic' meant when I used it to describe Anastasia last week, and its official definition is "Occurring or done in brief, irregular bursts." I guess I was trying to say that Anastasia is one of those types of people who seems to have multiple personalities that show at different times, in brief, irregular, intervals._

_Thanks again! (^_^)_


	5. Haggles and Homework

_Well, here's a new chapter! (^_^)_

_Sorry for updating kinda late (I believe it's been 5 days..), but the period in between updates is actually probably going to get longer now that I'm getting busier... (TT_TT)_

_My writing might also be kind of boring, so sorry about that. If you tell me what I could do to try and improve my story, I can attempt to follow your advice._

_Enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Anastasia is mine, though. *cackles*_

* * *

School is falling into a routine surprisingly fast. Life in general in this new dimension is already starting to follow a pattern. I feel guilty for staying at the sushi shop - sleeping in their guest room, using their shower, eating leftover sushi - but my only other option is to take to the streets, and I have a gut feeling that Yamamoto would hunt me to the ends of the earth if I dared flee him. Now that he knows about my situation, I doubt he's going to let me leave. He hasn't told me explicitly, but underneath his facade of grins and laughs, there's a certain sincerity.

The day after I meet Bianchi, he barges into the guest room at 6:00 AM and whips the sheets off of my body, because he knows now that that's my weakness. The boy is like a human alarm clock, and my grumpy morning self almost wants to reach up to his face and turn off his incessant rolls of laughter.

We meet Tsuna and Gokudera on the way to school, which actually turns out to be more bonding time for Yamamoto and me, since Gokudera is guarding the Tenth with a passion that could probably outshine the sun.

I curiously ask Yamamoto why he isn't going to baseball practice, and he responds by saying that practice only happens on certain days. Most of the practice happens on weekends due to school, lasting up to ten hours every Saturday and Sunday. Oh...

He doesn't notice the stupidity of my question though and instead looks cheerful about the fact that I've struck up a conversation with him about his favorite subject.

"I come to school extra early every now and then to brush up on my skills," he says, and I know he's being modest, because _the_ baseball star Yamamoto Takeshi will need to "brush up" on his baseball skills at about the same time pigs fly.

Yamamoto tells me that the baseball season in Japan is year-round and that certain tournaments happen every year, instead of constant games. It sounds rough to me, but he tells me it's not that bad to, and I can tell he's being truthful, because his eyes show a certain excitement and passion when he's talking about baseball. I smile as I watch Yamamoto describe the sport with enthusiasm, and soon, Tsuna and Gokudera are listening in as well (the latter very grudgingly) as we walk towards school.

School itself is uneventful. I receive my uniform before class starts and have an awkward changing session in the school bathroom, which involves me attempting to avoid any part of the restroom from touching my bare skin. The skirt reaches to pretty much exactly where my knees are but not quite to where my long black socks are pulled up to, and I wear my white shirt unbuttoned at the top with the red bow tie loosely hanging around the collar. It's casual, but not casual enough to give Hibari an excuse to slam a tonfa into my face. Personally, I'd prefer the blazer, but those are only worn when summertime ends.

The teacher starts regarding me in high spirits again because I scored a 98 on the math test, but it doesn't last very long because I fall asleep again after lunch. I have a love-hate relationship with my teacher already.

I realized halfway through literature class yesterday that I can't read Japanese (I was sleeping the first half), so I spent most of the period lying low in my desk so that the teacher's sweeping eyes wouldn't fall on me when he surveyed the room for a reading victim. In most classes, Yamamoto is my sleeping buddy. The teacher has already learned how to throw two pieces of chalk simultaneously and hit us both on the forehead. It's a pretty impressive skill for someone who looks old enough to be my father. Luckily, some teachers are more oblivious than others. I've learned that in Japanese junior high schools, students stay in one classroom for the entire day and it's the teachers that swap classrooms.

I'm still exhausted after school. Perhaps it's dimension-travel-lag? In any case, the fact that Yamamoto is trying to drag me off to the park so that we can do homework together isn't helping. We _can't_ go to the park, though, because Yamamoto is supposed to be at Tsuna's house this afternoon, according to the plot of the anime…. I feel selfish, manipulating the actions of people in this world just so that they'll be entertaining to the people of another. But then I realize that in terms of this world, which is just as real as my previous one, Yamamoto is going to miss important bonding time with Tsuna, Gokudera, Haru, and Reborn if he whisks me off to the park. And it's more for the second reason, I realize, that I should be encouraging Yamamoto to go to Tsuna's house.

"Maa, maa, it's all right, isn't it, Ana? Just come help me!" he says as he tugs on my arm. The hand of my other arm is locked onto the doors of the school for dear life, and I'm not, under any circumstances, letting go. "You got a 98 on your test!" he adds.

"So?" I splutter, attempting to dig my heels into the concrete. I fail.

"So," he says, "you can help me with my math problems!" Then he grins while still pulling on my arm. He's slowly reeling me in, waiting to get to my torso so that he can sling me over his shoulder.

A couple of students filter out of the school and walk away, looking at us strangely.

"Go to Tsuna's house!" I say, grimacing. It feels like he's about to dislocate my shoulder.

"Why?" he says, somewhat curious.

"Gokudera will be there," I say, pulling my body towards the school. My arm makes a suspicious cracking noise.

"How do you know?" Yamamoto asks, and I pause momentarily.

_I can technically predict the future…_

"I just do," I say. My sarcastic subconscious awakens and says "Laaaaame," in a low voice to me, and I tell her to be quiet so I can offer some justification for my knowledge. "Gokudera always runs to Tsuna when he's in need. Besides," I continue, "Tsuna also got a 20 on his test… you can do the problems together."

He stops pulling on my arm momentarily to consider this, but I'm still holding onto the door, and he's still holding onto my arm. I think we both know what each of us will do if either of us decides to let go.

Yamamoto breaks out of his thoughts. "If I go to Tsuna's house…" he says.

Oh my. Did my pathetic persuasion actually work?

"Then what's wrong with you coming as well?" He starts grinning widely again as he begins to pull on my arm.

Dammit.

He's getting closer to prying me off of the school (Hibari would be proud of my sudden attachment to the building), so I need to think of something, fast. Should I go for being scary? No, nothing scares Yamamoto. Pitiful? Hmm… he might show sympathy for me…. Angry? He's too honest for that; it would hurt his feelings even though he wouldn't show it. Sincere? Sincere sounds like the right way to go, but he can easily counter, since he's also sincere about wanting me to go. Which leaves me with only one option…

Evasive.

"Yamamoto," I say, while struggling to keep my grip on the door. "I want you to know that you're truly my friend. I have fun when I'm around you, and I feel like you'd understand anything that I'd say to you."

His eyes light up at my compliments, but I continue before he can respond.

"So I want you to know that I'm not avoiding you, and I don't think you're annoying. I just think that you need to spend some time getting to know your other friends… because they matter a lot too, right? So I'm sorry for doing this…."

He's getting suspicious that I've swapped tones so fast. I have to move now. I take a deep breath… and in one motion, I let go of the door, bolt to the left, and yank the hand in his arm as hard as I can, willing it to slip out. Slip out, slip out, slip out, slip out, for the love of God, please, please slip out.

My adrenaline is rushing, and I'm prepared to run a marathon. The only problem is his reflexes. In the millisecond in which I carry out my dash from the door, he's reacted to the pull in his hands and automatically tightens his grip, sealing my arm in an iron clasp. Reborn wasn't kidding when he described Yamamoto Takeshi as the baseball star with _perfect_ reflexes.

My arm nearly pops out of my shoulder as I surge forward and he pulls backward, and ultimately, I'm yanked back rather sharply onto his chest. His balance is perfect, and he catches me without falling.

Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.

My sarcastic subconscious is laughing her head off, and the mother in my pragmatic subconscious has awoken. "You shouldn't have tried," she says. "You shouldn't have tried, Ana. You shouldn't have tried." My dirty subconscious is relishing the fact that I'm getting a back-rub with his sweaty chest right now.

I can't see Yamamoto's face, since we're both facing the same direction and he's about a skyscraper taller than me, but I can feel that he's grinning. He bursts into laughter a moment later.

"That was a really nice try Ana!" he says, and I grimace. "Do you play a sport?"

He doesn't wait for my response and lets me go, still gripping my wrist, though. Then he begins to drag me towards the school gates, headed for Tsuna's house, eliciting some protest from me.

"Yama-" I nearly trip.

"Yamamo-" My hip almost hits the school gate.

"Yamamoto!" he looks back, hoists me up, and flings me over his shoulder, upsetting my lunch and hitting my face onto his back. Ouch. I'm about to go off on a rant about sexism and the treatment of women, but he cuts me off.

"If you're really my friend," he says in a carefree tone, "you'd come to Tsuna's house with me!" Then he looks back at me and shines his ultimate weapon: puppy eyes.

Yamamoto has dealt his master card: guilt. I feel totally ashamed now for abandoning him. How is it that he can be so happy and carefree about these topics? I think about my conversation with Tsuyoshi yesterday. Yamamoto hasn't had true friendship for most of his life... and I'm probably not making it any better by ditching Tsuna's house. On the other hand, I really don't want to interfere with any of the time he spends with Tsuna.

"I don't want to disturb the time you have with Tsuna," I say exasperatedly as he hikes across the road with me. My responses are starting to sound like excuses.

"Why?" says Yamamoto, and I can tell that he sincerely wants to know.

Why? Well... why indeed? Why am I trying so hard to avoid going to Tsuna's house in the first place? I'm almost sure anyone else in my position would have piped a "sure" and headed off without a problem... so why am I so against going?

It's not that I don't want to go...

But to me, this world follows a certain plot, and I'm scared of what will happen if I disturb that plot. I'm scared of shouldering the responsibility that comes with changing how this world should be in my eyes.

But wait. This world is no TV show. This world is as real to me right now as my previous one. And since I'm a part of it... shouldn't I be able to do what I want? A statement from the angel, Aegis, echoes in my head. "Even though you're in this dimension right now, you're still technically from another."

Ugh. So what should I do? "Try and not disrupt what normally would have happened," says Aegis. "Be a good friend to Takeshi," says Tsuyoshi. I'm not too keen on breaking either of their promises.

The thing is, if I had just agreed to go and then asked to leave, Yamamoto would have probably let me go. But now, it's a challenge. And he never backs down from a challenge.

Yamamoto snaps me out of my thoughts with a comment. "You're reading into things too much, Ana. We're just going over to someone's house. You don't have to think about it so much!"

And I realize that I _am_ being too paranoid. When I think about it, there's a really simple to way to honor both Aegis and Tsuyoshi. I can go over to Tsuna's house, and while I'm there, I can try not to disrupt what normally would have happened. Not to mention that I myself am sort of curious to finally see what the inside of Tsuna's house really looks like... and, I grudgingly admit to myself, I've come to think that spending time with Yamamoto is fun. I never did have any real experience with friendship in my previous life. Perhaps that's why I over-analyze things when it comes to Yamamoto and his friendship?

Yamamoto hasn't said anything else while we travel to Tsuna's house, and I realize that I still haven't answered his question as to why I don't want to go. He's probably figured out that I'm thinking, but I can tell that he's expecting an answer soon.

I sigh audibly, and I can practically feel his grin again, even though I can't see it. He knows now that when I sigh, I'm caving in.

"Fine," I mumble into his back. "I'll come."

His aura of happiness and excitement is frying me alive on his back, so I use my pessimistic and gloomy personality to counter it.

"But you actually have to do your homework," I say in a somewhat motherly tone. "And make sure you spend time with Tsuna and Gokudera as well."

"Of course!" he says jovially. "Thanks, Ana!"

I mumble some incomprehensible words into his back and then spit out some of the fabric from his shirt that's been caught in my mouth. Ugh.

"Can you put me down?" I ask, trying to sound nice. I sound a little grumpy instead. "You smell like sweat and Axe." I want to add "and milk," but that really wouldn't make sense.

"Axe?" he says curiously. "Why do I smell like an axe?"

"No," I say irritably. "The deodorant. You know, Axe?" I still feel like he's confused, so I bestow some of my knowledge upon him. "They began selling products in Japan in 2008... using it is supposed to make you automatically attractive to women... you know, Axe?"

He laughs blissfully as he continues to walk. "You're funny, Ana! Funny because it's only 2004!"

Oh... crap.

How is it that I haven't figured out what year this dimension is in yet? I guess I automatically assumed that I wouldn't time travel when I switched dimensions. Then again, I should have realized that since I'm at the beginning of KHR's plot, and since the author of the manga in my world is tapping into events in this world as they happen, the time in this world should be around the time the manga was released in my world. 2004.

I need to think of a lame excuse now, and fast.

"Ha... ha... ha..." I laugh like a robot. "I'm glad you got my joke!" I cough. "Ha... ha... ha..."

I feel like he believes me for now, so I quickly change the subject to get rid of the awkward feeling I've just created. "But can you put me down now?" Then I add a "Please?" so it doesn't sound like I'm grumpy all the time.

"Just a little farther!" he says happily. "I can actually see Tsuna up ahead of us now, can't you?"

"No..." I grumble. "Your back is in the way. Just a little."

He doesn't hear me though, and I can tell we've reached Tsuna because he stops walking and I feel him extend one of his arms. The soft sound of him patting Tsuna on the shoulder follows.

"Yoh!" I hear Yamamoto say. "Do you want to do the homework together, Tsuna?" Why does his voice always sound so cheesy when he talks to Tsuna? "It'll be a lot faster with two people instead of one."

"Huh? Yeah, sure!" Tsuna says excitedly, and then I can tell he's turned all the way around to face Yamamoto, because a squeal-like noise comes out of his mouth when he sees the pair of legs (_my_ legs) draped over Yamamoto's shoulder. I'm about to scream at the trustworthy Tsuna for help, but a voice that can only be recognized as Reborn's cuts me off.

"Then do it at our house," Reborn says from somewhere around us that we can't see. He's referring to the homework.

"Huh? Huh? What? Huh?" Yamamoto and Tsuna make a series of noises that reminds me of gargling as they swing their heads around, looking for the mysterious Reborn. If I remember correctly, he's hiding in a row of potted plants by Tsuna's legs... too bad I can't see.

"I'm over here," says Reborn's voice, and a popping sound followed by Tsuna's shriek indicates to me that Reborn has revealed himself.

Yamamoto leans down towards Reborn, causing a short dizzying spell on my part since I'm dangling over his back. The only reason I don't fall off and bust my head is because his arm is around my waist.

"Yoh!" he says cheerfully to Reborn, and I hear a "Ciaossu" in return. I'm not sure if the greeting is directed at just Yamamoto or me as well.

Tsuna carries on the conversation by yelling a protest to Reborn about deciding where to do homework, and I tune out of the dialogue because I'm getting dizzy from all of the blood that's rushing to my head. I hear Reborn and Tsuna mention something about Gokudera and meeting up, and then we're off again, with me _still_ on Yamamoto's shoulder.

Hello? Tsuna? Reborn? There's just a person on Yamamoto's shoulder. No big deal. Just ignore me.

"I'll see you later!" Yamamoto says, and his comment somewhat confuses me. Later? I can hear Tsuna walking away, but Yamamoto turns around and starts walking in the opposite direction of Tsuna's house.

"Uh... Yamamoto?" I say. "Where are we going?"

He laughs as he continues to walk, and comments nonchalantly. "Didn't you hear our conversation? We're going back home and changing so that we can meet up at Tsuna's later. It'd be uncomfortable to stay in our school uniforms, right?"

"O-oh..." I say tiredly. "Right." He walks in the awkward silence that I've just created for a moment, and then I tentatively try my luck at breaking out of the iron grasp of Yamamoto.

"Yamamoto..." I begin, "since we're going home now... can you put me down?" I try and sound as sweet as possible. I need to get down soon, otherwise I'm going to faint.

He seems to think for a moment as he walks, and then responds cheerfully. "Nope!"

Ugh. This boy...

* * *

At the sushi shop, I decide that Yamamoto's sweatpants and another baseball T-shirt are the way to go for maximum comfort. I throw an apologetic look at Yamamoto, but he doesn't seem to mind. Yamamoto opts for a white T-shirt covered by a red button-up shirt, paired with black jeans. With school, I haven't had a chance to put that money I got from Reborn to good use yet, but I definitely need some new clothes. I need to pay Tsuyoshi for all of his kindness as well...

While Yamamoto puts his school materials away, I have a chance to chat with Tsuyoshi, and I sit at the bar, talking about his amazing sushi chef skills. His warm and friendly attitude makes him the ideal person to talk easily to.

Fortunately, I avoid being slung over Yamamoto's shoulder on the walk to Tsuna's house from the sushi shop. Gokudera gives me a "Che~" and a small look of disapproval when we arrive and meet him outside the house.

"Don't invite random people over to the tenth's house, baseball idiot!" Gokudera says irritably, and Yamamoto calms him down, laughing.

Tsuna's house is so familiar yet new at the same time, and stepping inside is sort of like returning to a place that I've already been. The inside is cozy and welcoming, and none of us hesitate to barge in and settle down when Reborn invites us into Tsuna's room (much to Tsuna's misfortune). I finally receive an acknowledgment from Reborn and a timid greeting from Tsuna (it takes me a while to get him to stop using my last name) after I apologize for flying in.

Gokudera is surprisingly efficient as a teacher, but also somewhat biased in choosing his students... while he whispers his strategies to the tenth, Yamamoto decides to seek help from me, since he doesn't really understand Gokudera's technical explanations anyways.

I'm not exactly great at explaining things, but I think I remember how Yamamoto learns best, and I pick up Tsuna's math textbook, which is lying on the table. After finding the pages that correspond with the problems, I let him read. The light bulbs lighting up over his head are almost visible.

I point out a couple of examples and details in the book when he asks, and soon, he's writing quadratic equations all across his paper, earning admiring looks from Tsuna and shocked looks from Gokudera when he ends up getting all the problems he solved right.

I vaguely wonder where Haru is... she should be appearing soon, right? I stretch my arms, yawn, and slowly get up, wandering over to the window and pretending that I need some air while the trio of teens argues about question seven and Tsuna's skills (or lack of thereof) in math.

Outside, I can hear people talking, and gradually, I determine that it's Haru and Nana. The sound of a door opening and closing follows, and I know that Haru has now successfully infiltrated the house. She'll need a couple of minutes to prepare the refreshments that she's going to bring up to Tsuna's room.

I wander back to the table and slowly let myself down, allowing my back to fall onto the soft carpet while Tsuna begins reading question seven out loud. A mighty yawn escapes from my mouth.

Yamamoto notices me while Tsuna reads and lets out a small laugh.

"Tired?" he says, and I only nod before Tsuna's droning voice and the soft carpet lure my eyelids close.

_Stay awake..._ I think to myself. _Come on, stay awake!_ Why am I so tired all of the time in this world? My thoughts blur together as my self-persuasion fails, and the last thing I hear before falling asleep is the door opening as Haru enters the scene.

* * *

I wake up to the sounds of three people yelling.

The first voice is recognizable as Bianchi's. "That's right..." she says. "I don't care about any of this!" and I know she's talking about the homework because the sound of a paper being ripped follows.

This elicits a scream from the second person, Tsuna, who's horrified at the fact that Bianchi has just ripped up the sheet he's been working so hard on. The yelling of the third person, Yamamoto, comes afterwards.

"Maa, maa, maa!" Yamamoto says as Tsuna screams and Bianchi spews out her thoughts on homework and love.

_Ugggggggh_, I think to myself as I roll over in the bed a little and attempt to keep my eyes closed. _So noisy..._

Wait. Bed? Ah, I must be on Tsuna's bed... Yamamoto probably placed me here after I fell asleep. I'll have to remember to apologize to Tsuna later. But for now...

I hear Yamamoto telling Tsuna that he'll let Tsuna copy his question sheet, and then Haru, who's been in Tsuna's house for a while now during my nap, exclaims that she knows where she's seen question seven before and pulls out a phone.

I roll over again, lifting my arm to get it into a comfortable position, and place it down again... onto Gokudera's face.

"HOOOLY CRAP!"

I'm immediately awake and kneeling on the bed, my back pressed against the wall that the bed is resting against.

Haru, Yamamoto, and Tsuna are staring at me with expressions of confusion and curiosity, and Yamamoto pipes up first.

"Ooh? Ana, you're awake? You slept for a long time!"

I'm still in trauma from the fact that Gokudera was tucked into bed right next to me. Something by my right knee squirms, and I quickly look down. Lambo? Lambo was in the bed with me too?

"W-W-W-Wh-Wh-Wh-Why?" I choke out, and then clear my voice loudly. "Why is Gokudera in bed with me?"

Tsuna looks apologetic while Haru does her initial assessment of me, determining whether or not I'm a "harmful influence to Reborn" with her eyes. It's strange, seeing Haru obsessed with Reborn and not Tsuna. Yet. Yamamoto ends up being the one to speak again.

"Gokudera suddenly collapsed after his sister came into the room," Yamamoto says with a grin, "so we put him on the bed!"

I look down at the bomber, and sure enough, his face is contorted into an expression of pain and he's making strange noises. I'm still a bit flustered though.

"Y-Y-You should have at least woken me up!" I say, a little aggravated.

Yamamoto stands up, places his hands on his hips, and laughs. "It's all right, isn't it Ana? Besides, I've also slep-"

Abruptly, I jump off the bed with the grace and speed of a ballerina and pounce on him, clasping my hands over his mouth. The room does _not_ need to know that Yamamoto has slept in the same bed with me before.

Yamamoto's eyes widen, and a light tinge of pink coats his cheeks, catching me by surprise. Wha-? Why is he blushing? Did I miss something?

Then I notice the position we're in. The baseball star is lying down, pinned to the ground by my hands, both of which are clasped tightly over his mouth. My body is sitting on his stomach, and my knees are on the floor, nearly touching his hands, which are lying by his sides.

I let out a small breath in horror and the room seems to freeze, with Tsuna looking like he's about to have a nosebleed and Haru peering at the scene in front of her with disapproval (Reborn-chan shouldn't be in a household with this type of infleunce!).

In a second I'm up off the ground, fake-coughing and willing all of the blood in my head to drain back into my body.

"Well," my sarcastic subconscious says with a smirk, "at least you stopped him from saying what he was going to say." Then she bursts out laughing. My pragmatic subconscious has fainted.

I cough again and then turn towards Tsuna and Haru, as well as Yamamoto, who has gotten up and is rubbing the back of his head with one of his hands, a goofy grin plastered to his face.

"Uhm..." I say, and they're all waiting for me to clear up the giant invisible elephant in the room. "T-That's just something I do for fun with any of my friends!" I say halfheartedly. "I do it all the time!"

Oh my God. Did I just make the situation worse? Yes, I did.

"I mean- I mean, I don't do it all the time... you know... I mean, it was an accident... s-sorry Yamamoto... I'm so clumsy, you know..."

My sarcastic subconscious has gone beyond laughing her ass off and is somewhere in space, leaving me stranded here in Tsuna's house to deal with this utter humiliation.

Luckily, both Tsuna and Yamamoto are understanding, and they can see that I'm somewhat flustered. Haru is still wary of me and is making that strange "hnnnn" sound I assume she makes when she's thinking. I would be wary of someone too if the first thing they did when they met me was straddle a guy.

"W-White-san, you don't need to be so concerned about it! It was an accident, right? We can just laugh it off," Tsuna says, and I look up at him gratefully.

On cue, Yamamoto lets out a laugh and says, "Yeah, Ana, it's no problem!" He grins again at me, and I feel like he truly doesn't want me to feel bad about the awkward position that I used on him. "Besides... that was pretty fun!"

_Yamamoto..._

Haru approaches me with that criticizing look on her face and stares me down for a couple of moments. I blink twice, somewhat surprised and somewhat intimidated. And then suddenly, her expression changes completely and she firmly places a hand on my shoulder, her eyes full of sympathy and her voice full of sadness.

"I understand you completely!" she exclaims, and I'm not sure what to say back. I'm completely lost as to what has just happened. "It's so cruel, girls like us having to tolerate unsafe environments like these! Dirty boys are nothing but bad influences!"

She breaks down sobbing, and I'm not exactly sure if she's being serious or not.

"All you did was make a mistake, but those boys blamed it on you!" Haru says. "That's why we need to stick together and get Reborn-chan out of this dangerous (desu) environment as fast as we can! Are you with me?"

I have absolutely no idea how to respond, but I'm saved from my "erm"s and "uhm"s when a middle-aged man opens the door, catching everyone's attention.

"Dad!" Haru says, and lets go of my shoulder so that she can turn around and walk over to the man. I let out a breath of relief for avoiding her question. "You came!"

Tsuna looks a little exasperated at the fact that yet another person has been invited into his room without permission, but he brushes it off quickly and instead looks hopeful that perhaps, question seven will be solved.

"I need you to solve a math problem for me, dad!" Haru says. "It's very important!" She approaches the table and picks up a question sheet, and Yamamoto decides to sit down, anticipating the long explanation of the problem ahead. Tsuna and I follow. I'm just glad that I've dodged being further humiliated... my cheeks burn when I think back to what happened. I whack my head on the table a couple of times. _Must. Forget. Must. Forget._

After she hands him the sheet and sits back down at the table, Haru gives a brief introduction of her father while he reads the problem. "This is my dad. He's a university math professor."

Haru's dad launches into an explanation of how the problem is impossible to solve, and I do what I'm getting progressively better at: tuning out. I notice for the first time since I woke up that Reborn is sleeping in the hammock above Tsuna's desk, sporting white and pink polka-dotted pajamas. I didn't think that snot bubbles could actually be blown... it kind of grosses me out, watching it grow bigger and smaller as he breathes.

Yep, Reborn would definitely kill me if he could read my mind.

I'm snapped out of my thoughts when the snot bubble suddenly pops (ew) and Reborn says, "No. It can be proven."

Everyone's attention is on Reborn, and he continues with the solution to problem seven. "What if, at first, the papers had glue on them? When they fell, the glue would make the papers stick together."

Uh, Reborn. That isn't a mathematical solution. This has turned into a physics problem.

Unfortunately, I'd be dead in less that a second, literally, if I said that, so I keep my mouth shut. Reborn directs his eyes at me for a second while Haru's dad goes on about "Boreen-sensei" in the background, and they gleam evilly, as if sensing my intentions. A sudden shiver runs up my spine and I quickly pretend to be very interested in my toes.

I relax a bit when I hear the sounds of Reborn sleeping again, and a huge yawn makes its way to my mouth. Now that things are calming down, I kind of feel like resuming that nap I was having before it was interrupted by a sickly Gokudera... Falling asleep twice in someone's house is a little rude though.

"It's rude..." I think to myself even as my eyelids start to drop. I pull my knees up to my chest and rest my head on them. "Don't fall asleep..." I vaguely think to myself. Seriously though, who would be tired enough to fall asleep twice in a row? Oh. Me.

I hear Tsuna and Yamamoto's voices, but they're echoey and slow sounding, creating the impression that I'm in a dream. And soon, I _am_ in a dream.

* * *

"Wake up... wake up, Ana." A male voice reverberates through my head. "For the love of God, mortal, just wake up already. I've never seen a human that sleeps as much as you do."

And with that statement, I automatically recognize who's talking to me. Aegis.

I blearily hoist my upper body up and blink my eyes to clear my vision, and I'm nearly blinded by my bright white surroundings. I realize that I'm in a simple white dress. "This white room again?" I mutter to myself, and slowly get up, trying to get my eyes to open all the way.

"Yes, Ana, we're in the white room again," Aegis says from behind me, and I turn around. There sits Aegis at his white desk, blonde-hair-blue-eyed supermodel looks, legs crossed and all. He's ditched the gladiator costume and is already in his blue jeans and leather jacket. His wings are still unfurled behind his back, though, and his ever-present clipboard is still resting in his arms. I'm once again captivated by his wings, which now look like they're... glittering?

"I don't have much time with you today..." he says, and I hear him mutter "fortunately" under his breath, "...so we'll have to skip changing the background of the room. I know you enjoy exploring those places though," he says with a smirk, and I know he's thinking about our little coral reef adventure.

I snort at him and cross my arms. "I missed you," I say in a voice dripping with sarcasm, and his smirk grows wider in response.

"I know you did," he says smugly. Ugh. One day, I'm going to punch him. PUNCH HIM, I tell you.

"Right, the clock is ticking at 3 minutes and 12 seconds I have left with you, so please shut up and let me talk," he says while feigning a sweet smile.

I roll my eyes but comply, knowing that whatever he has to say is probably important.

"First thing: time travel discrepancy. The portal that you traveled through brought you eight years into the past. There's not much to explain. Portals are spontaneous occurrences that warp time since they travel through multiple universes. Just remember that it's 2004 now in this world." He flips through a couple of papers on his clipboard and arches an eyebrow at me, implying "Insolent mortal, do you understand?" I choose not to respond, and he smirks and continues.

"Second thing: language discrepancy. Like I said before, you have the ability to speak and understand any language in this world. However... if you focus hard enough, you have the ability to stop understanding and speaking languages that you're not familiar with on demand. All you need to do is will your mind not to comprehend the language. Again, I'm going to cut the explanation short and say it's because your body was created partly in this dimension, and partly in your dimension. I don't know why you would want to stop understanding a language, though... Continuing on..." he says, and looks at his clipboard nonchalantly, ignoring my looks of incredulity and confusion.

"Third thing: good job on not using the time-stopping skill so far." He smirks and snaps his fingers, and a golden star with the words "You're the best!" written on it appears on my dress. His sarcasm is getting to be somewhat of a nuisance.

"Fourth thing: energy loss. There are certain symptoms you should be feeling in this world by the third day of occupancy, the most prominent of which being tiredness. Technically, you were 'born' into this world three days ago, so your life energy is still building up. The process varies depending on the health of the person, but it usually takes about two to four weeks to stop randomly feeling tired. This means you should get a lot of rest." Then he looks at me and smirks. "Or you could refuse to sleep and die - again."

I'm almost at my limit of how many sarcastic remarks I can handle, but he cuts me off with another explanation.

"Fifth thing: literary physics discrepancy. You have to remember that the author in your dimension of the books based on this dimension is still tapping into the events of this world. That means that even if they change now, no one in or from your world - except for you - will know that the plot of the books in your world has changed."

I blink twice, looking stupid, and he heaves a sigh. "Humans..." I can almost hear him thinking.

"What I'm trying to say," he says "is that you shouldn't be so uptight about maintaining the 'plot' of the 'story.' As far as you or this world is concerned, this is no 'plot' at all. Stop agonizing over every decision you make and live out your second life. This world is yours now too, so make good use of it. YOLT."

"YOLT?" I say curiously.

"You Only Live Twice," he says with a dazzling smile.

I feel both truly appreciative for his advice and disgusted at his overuse of sarcasm at the same time. "Yeah, I know," he says, and I look at him disbelievingly.

"I thought you couldn't read minds!" I splutter.

"I can't," he says. "Your face is like a book, remember? Hmm... Facebook!"

While I smolder, he glances at his clipboard and looks up at me again. "17 seconds," he says, and then smirks. "It was a pleasure meeting you again, Anastasia White."

17 seconds? I wanted to ask him some unexplained questions, though... like, if the author of KHR can't see me, then won't it look strange to her that Tsuna and the others are talking to an invisible person? Or what will happen if I actually try and speak real Japanese? Will people still hear me in their mother tongue? The sudden lack of time prompts me to forget these questions for now, though, and truly thank Aegis for clearing up so many of my misunderstandings. The advice about loosening up in this world has seriously relieved me a bit.

"Aegis," I mutter. "Thanks." Then I look up and try not to appear grumpy.

He looks surprised momentarily, and then offers me a soft, genuine smile - one that reminds me of my dad.

"No problem."

Wow. I didn't know he was capable of smiling like that. He's probably popular with the girls... I grin inwardly to myself. Perhaps I am fortunate that he's my designated angel.

"Ah," Aegis says, and breaks me out of my thoughts.

"Three..." he says, and I look at him quizzically.

"Two..." My expression changes to one of sudden understanding when I notice that my surroundings are fading.

"One..." I give a small sarcastic wave in a "ta-ta" fashion, earning me a smirk from him.

"Zero," he says, and the last thing I hear before a pulling sensation engulfs me is him yelling "Happy New Year!"

* * *

I enter the phase between asleep and awake when I hear a door opening. My thoughts are coming together, and I roll around in the bed, still half asleep.

My body automatically curls up when a wave of coldness suddenly washes over my figure, waking me up more, and I realize that someone has pulled the covers off of me.

Only one person I know would do that...

I crack one of my eyes open halfway and see Yamamoto in his pajamas, a white T-shirt and sport shorts, looming over my bed and grinning, mouthing words that I can't hear because I'm still somewhat asleep. As I regain my sight and hearing, Yamamoto's voice fades into my ears. "...ake up Ana, wake up! It's time for school! Ahahaha, you sleep too much! Wake up!"

His commentary continues for a good minute and a half while I shut my eyes and try to ignore the human alarm clock standing by my bed.

Suddenly, a pair of arms is under my body and I'm in the air, scooped up out of the bed by the baseball star. I'm automatically wide awake and in ninja mode, flailing around, and Yamamoto struggles to keep his balance and prevent himself from falling.

"I'm awake!" I yell hoarsely. "I'm awake, Yamamoto! Put me down!"

I stop flailing so that Yamamoto can regain his balance, and he stands there for a moment, holding me bridal style. Awkward...

Then he lets me down gently and I hop out of his arms, a little dizzy from that fact that I was woken up so quickly. Ugh... it feels like I've been hit by a truck again.

As I take in my surroundings, I notice that I'm back in the guest room of the sushi shop. It seems like it's early in the morning from the dim sunlight filtering in through the window. Yamamoto also mentioned that it was time for school... wasn't I just at Tsuna's house though? During the night? Aegis only spoke with me for about 3 minutes...

"W-why are we at the sushi shop?" I ask Yamamoto. "What time is it?"

He places his hands on his hips and laughs. "You fell asleep last night at Tsuna's house," he says matter-of-factly, "and no one wanted to bother you..." He takes one of his hands and starts rubbing the back of his head. "... So I carried you home!"

Some of my saliva catches in my throat and I begin hacking loudly, earning me a worried look from Yamamoto, who rushes over and begins clapping my back with one of his huge hands. As the coughs die down, I hold up one of my hands, indicating to him that I'm fine. "So *cough* it's the morning *cough* of the next day?" I ask, and Yamamoto nods, his hands back on his hips now.

What? So the first time I meet Aegis, he spends like an hour with me during a three-minute nap. Then the second time I meet him, he spends three minutes for me while I sleep for the entire night? Ugh, what a confusing angel.

I let out a few more small coughs, and then the room is filled with awkward silence, neither of us knowing what to say. I decided to take the initiative.

"T-Thanks," I say, and Yamamoto raises an eyebrow. "For carryi- bringing me home."

He grins. "No problem," he says, and a feeling of déjà vu hits me. Where have I seen that action before? Then it hits me. Ah... before I woke up, Aegis smiled at me and said "No problem" in almost the same exact way. A sinking feeling hits my heart as I realize that the smile reminded of my father. _Dad... I wonder how he's doing? _The feelings of anxiety and indescribable sadness welling up in the pit of my stomach cause my eyes to unintentionally moisten a bit, and I blink quickly a couple of times. No. I can't cry. I can't go back. I need to forget. I shut my thoughts into a corner of my mind and think about something else, anything else.

I compose myself and paste a smile onto my face, already feeling a bit better.

"Ana?" Yamamoto begins to curiously wave a hand in front of my face. "You awake?"

I have a sudden urge to lightly punch him in the stomach, perhaps to drown out the remaining unhappy thoughts in my mind with a playful gesture, so I do.

THWACK. My tiny punch automatically hits a wall of rock hard muscle, and I wince, regretting my decision. "RETREAT!" my aching fist yells at me, and I comply while Yamamoto peers down at me in surprise and then laughs. He sees that I'm pretty much fully awake now and gets down to business. "Do you want to take the shower first?" he says inquisitively, "Or should I go?"

"You can go," I say, shaking my poor, poor hand. "After all, it's your shower."

"Roger that," he says with a grin, and begins to step towards the doorway. "I'll see you later!" I give him a small wave (with the non-injured hand), wondering why he's saying goodbye when he's just going to take a shower.

After he's left the room, I collapse back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. I'm already exhausted, and the day has just begun. I wonder what else is in store for me today? I try and think of what's supposed to happen next. Yesterday, we did homework at Tsuna's house with Haru. Which means... Haru is supposed to nearly drown this morning and then develop a crush on Tsuna after he saves her. I smash my face into the pillow. Looks like I won't be able to truly relax anytime soon...

A let out a small sigh and then smile to myself, forcing unwanted thoughts out of my mind.

Life may be settling into a pattern in this new world, but I'm never going to get used to to all of the surprises it has to offer.

* * *

_Thanks to **Aleiafae**, **Hayate the Soul Reaper**, **The Mouse Maestro**, **Ynnah**, **xxOMGgalxx**, and everyone else who's reviewed. It's really appreciated!_

_All right! I apologize once again if that was boring or confusing. See you in about a week! (Or perhaps later...)_


	6. Being Part of a Family

_All right, so this is a new chapter, out a bit early, if I do say so myself... I'm very much aware that my writing is usually really choppy and straightforward, so I apologize in advance. (;_;)_

_Also, sorry to everyone for changing my username so many times... I just got a FanFiction account._

_** Ynnah**: Incorporating Japanese culture might have to wait until around chapter 8... when I write, I usually skip around, so when you offered that advice, I already had sections of chapter 6 and chapter 7 laid out. (TT_TT) Thanks for catching a lot of mistakes in the previous chapter. I tried to smooth those out. And just as a note, it won't be Haru who becomes Ana's shopping buddy..._

_Disclaimer! I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn._

* * *

I'm absolutely exhausted by the end of school, even more so that I was this morning after Yamamoto decided to turn me into a human airplane.

As I enter the sushi shop, I wave at Tsuyoshi and smile warmly, and he beams back with me.

"Where's Takeshi?" he asks with the family grin.

I respond as I make my way across the shop. "Oh, he wanted to stay behind at the school and practice baseball a bit. He'll be back soon, I think." Tsuyoshi nods in response and twirls a butcher knife in his hand, bringing it down on a couple of blocks of raw salmon.

My smile falters a bit when I remember that I still have to talk to Tsuyoshi about staying here. The wad of yen Reborn gave me is in the desk in the guest room… but for now, I slowly climb upstairs, trying to stretch my aching body.

I place my new school bag on the desk in the guest room before falling back onto the bed and spreading my back on the covers, releasing a sigh. I hope this "lack of energy" Aegis was talking about wears off soon, because fighting sleep all of the time is actually really annoying. Most of my teachers have given up on trying to wake me up during class because I almost always end up falling asleep again, but I don't think they mind, because I'm able to consistently answer their questions correctly with my quick mental responses when they attempt to catch me off guard. Luckily, we haven't had any more tests… my inability to read Japanese would definitely lead to failure in any topic besides math... but we have had one quiz in literature, on which I guessed the word "photosynthesis" for every question and scored a flat out zero.

I roll around in the bed, feeling tired and restless at the same time, and end up sitting up on the edge, still thinking about my life in this world. Knowing what will happen in this world kind of removes some of the excitement... and yet, every day manages to completely exhaust me.

The corners of my mouth briefly twitch up as I suddenly remember what happened this morning.

Yamamoto spotted Gokudera on the way to school (much to Gokudera's misfortune) and the two automatically began bickering when we caught up to him, while I trailed behind, inspecting my nails. I had a sneaking suspicious of what we would see when we reached the bridge that stretches across the river, but the sight of Haru fully clad in hockey armor chasing a freaked-out Tsuna was much funnier in person than I thought it would be. I ended up chuckling and thinking thoughts like "Girl, do you _want_ to get sued for assault and battery?" and "You should probably know how to swim" while Tsuna rescued his future "lover" from the river. Blame it on my cruel sarcastic subconscious and my grumpy morning self.

I sneeze abruptly, breaking me out of my review of the day's events. Perhaps someone is talking about me behind my back…. Slowly, I get up from the bed (why do I feel like I'm 92 years old with arthritis?) and seat myself at the desk. Doing math homework usually calms me down. I know it's strange, but there's a certain calming feeling I get from being able to solve a concrete problem over and over again and knowing it's right. Most people would probably refer to it as boredom, but there's not much else I can do at the moment, and I need to maintain my love-hate relationship with my teachers by doing my homework, anyways.

A good half-an-hour of Algebra I later, I still feel like I'm about to keel over and just immediately fall asleep on the floor. "Focus…" I think to myself. "Only a couple of problems left to go." I blink a couple of times and rub my cheeks.

"What's the square root of 256 again?" I mutter out loud to myself. I definitely would have known this straight off the bat if I were more awake.

"Sixteen," a high pitched voice says from my left.

Oh. Sixteen. "Thanks," I say while scribbling a couple of things down. Wait…

I automatically freeze, my skin prickling. If I wasn't awake before, I'm definitely awake now.

My head slowly turns itself to the left like a robot, dreading what it's going to see. A pair of beady black eyes stares back at me.

"Ciaossu."

"HOOOOOOOOLY SH-" but I don't finish my exclamation because I have to duck in order to avoid the bullet that would have sunk right in between my eyes. I shakily look up from my squatting position on the ground.

"Excellent reflexes, as usual," says Reborn, lowering his gun. "But not when it comes to noticing me. I stood on your desk for a good two minutes."

"G-Give me a break," I say hesitantly. "I'm super tired."

"I know," he says, "so let's make this super quick. I only have one small request for you."

"Request?" I ask curiously. Does he want me to tell him about Tsuna's future again? What he says instead completely surpasses my expectations.

"Join Tsuna's family."

My saliva catches in my throat for the second time in two days and I begin hacking violently, bracing myself by placing a hand on the floor. _What did he just say? WHAT did he just say?_

"E-Excuse me?" I ask between coughs, not entirely sure I heard him correctly. _Please say something different, please say something different, please say something different…._

"Join Tsuna's family," he repeats, and my hacking spell resumes.

"Stop coughing," he says, and a bullet nearly hits my hand. I lift it up just in time and quickly shut up my coughing.

"I'm surprised that you're surprised," he says, and I can't do much but look at him incredulously. I'm afraid that if I say something, he'll shoot me again….

"Given that you know about the mafia _and_ Tsuna's future, wouldn't it be extremely obvious that joining Tsuna's family would follow? Not to mention that you've developed a friendly relationship with him in the past few days, indicating your compatibility."

Compatibility? "Ah, I think he's better friends with his family than with me…" I say, and it's somewhat true. After all, I only arrived in this world three days ago.

"Really?" Reborn says, and arches an eyebrow. "I think you're one of the people that understand him the best."

"What?" I ask. "How?" I'm somewhat skeptical of his comment since I've never really seen Reborn dish out a compliment before.

Four bullets fly over my head, past my left and right hands, and in between my legs, nearly causing me to wet my pants right then and there.

"Explain to me why Tsuna is the candidate for Vongola Decimo," Reborn says. _Huh? What's with the sudden topic change?_ "Technically," Reborn continues, "I could have chosen anyone to shoot with the Dying Will bullet. So why is Dame-Tsuna the one?"

I open my mouth, and another bullet whizzes past my head. This baby is going to run out of ammo soon.

"No questions," he says. "Explain."

"W-Well..." I start, and I realize I don't know the answer. Why _did_ Reborn choose Tsuna? Since the Dying Will bullet should be able to make anyone stronger... why not choose someone strong in the first place? I ponder for a while, and miraculously, Reborn doesn't shoot me. He's either out of bullets or knows that I'm truly thinking. _Why? Why indeed? _Then it hits me.

"It's _because_ it's the Dying Will bullet," I say, and Reborn raises an eyebrow. "When one is shot by the Dying Will bullet, they act upon their regrets. Only someone as kind and understanding as Tsuna would actually have regrets about what they've done to correct his wrongs. Some people, when they die, wouldn't care about fixing their mistakes. But Tsuna... it's because of his personality. His Dying Will. That's why you chose him. That's why his father nominated him for the position of Vongola Decimo. Not because of his strength or appearance... but because of his personality."

Reborn smirks and lower his gun. "And you think you don't understand him," he says.

I blink. Okay, maybe I do get him. A bit. But isn't that only because I've watched his future adventures? When it comes to actual experience with him, I don't have much.

"Well... yeah, I admit that I do know a little bit about him since I've seen so much of his future with the family... but that's the only reason. He has true friendship with Yamamoto, and Gokudera, and, well… not me," I say.

I duck as a bullet whizzes over my head and automatically raise my guard again.

"Idiot," Reborn says. "You just admitted that you do indeed understand him. The reason doesn't matter, right?"

I blanch at this. _Excuses, Anastasia, think of excuses, and fast._

"I'm not from this world, though," I say. "You know that. I wasn't intended to be in Tsuna's family. Besides, all slots for the seven guardians are filled already. There's no more room."

I realize that even Reborn might not have lined up all seven guardians yet, so I quickly explain my slip of the tongue with a wave of my hand.

"You deem Hibari useful tomorrow at school. He'll eventually become the cloud guardian. Ryohei becomes the sun guardian after he catches your interest in a boxing match five days from now, and this illusionist named Mukuro becomes the mist guardian after the Kokuyo attacks, which happen in a couple of weeks. Of course, you already have Yamamoto, Gokudera, and Lambo lined up for rain, storm, and lightning, respectively. And lastly, Tsuna is sky."

Reborn is looking as impressed with me as I'm ever going to see him, so I bask in this moment of glory. "Interesting…" he says, and I'm momentarily hopeful. Did my evidence work? "…but that doesn't let you off the hook." Ugh.

"Why?" I ask irritably, and duck out of the way of a whizzing bullet.

"Haru and Kyoko are a part of Tsuna's family as much as the others," Reborn says, "and they're not guardians, are they?"

"O-Oh…" I mutter to myself. Can't really counter that one.

"Just join Tsuna's family," he says. "From what I see right now, you've got nothing to lose. Not to mention that you're intelligent and athletic. At least, for your age. What's holding you back, anyways?"

What's holding me back? Well... I just got an opportunity at living a second life. I don't really want to be dragged into the mafia in my adolescent years... but as I think about it more, I realize this was probably inevitable from the start. I'm tied too closely to Yamamoto already, and I know too much about the Vongola Decimo. If I don't somehow start interacting with the mafia now, someday, the mafia is going to back and bite me in the ass.

"And also," Reborn says, drawing me out of my thoughts, "it appears that you also have some rare abilities that might be useful to Tsuna's business in the mafia," Reborn says. "Since you're from another world."

I intake some air sharply. Does he know that I can stop time?

"For example..." he says. "Do you know that I've been speaking to you in Korean this whole time?" I stare at him blankly, blinking and processing what he's just said. "It appears to me that you have the ability to understand any language without even realizing it. It also appears that you can speak any language you please as well… because you've been speaking fluent Korean in response."

_What?_ Should I say that I already knew how to speak Korean? That I learned it overnight? I highly doubt he would buy any of those. It doesn't looks like I have any way to hide this.

He takes my silence as confirmation and continues. "I'm thinking that you may have more abilities… but you don't have to tell me now," he says, and then smirks. "Besides, since you're joining Tsuna's family, I'll be able to see them later."

"W-Wait! I'm not joining Tsuna's fam-"

This time, the bullet comes closer to grazing my cheek. Reborn is adapting to my reaction time.

"What was that?" he says nonchalantly. "I couldn't hear you."

"F-Fine," I say nervously. "But unofficially."

Oh no. _What_ did I just say?

He smirks. "Excellent choice. And besides, I don't think anyone is really _officially_ in Tsuna's family yet. Those bonds take a while to create." His gun melts into Leon and hops back onto his fedora, indicating that his interrogation is drawing to an end.

"Thank you, Ms. White, for your cooperation," he says with his ever-present smirk. "I'll be taking my leave now." Then he jumps up into the air and literally disappears with a gust of wind.

I stare at the spot where he was standing for a few moments, blinking. Then I smash my head on my desk a couple of times. Smash. Smash. Smash. Smash.

I knew that this would probably be inevitable... _but what have I gotten myself into?_

* * *

The rest of the week passes by quickly and slowly at the same time. Quickly, because when I look back at it, it seems to have gone by in a flash. Slowly, because while I was actually experiencing it, I felt like crawling into bed and sleeping for the entire time.

School is... well, school. Some things don't change from dimension to dimension. I still haven't put in the energy to take a day off and smooth out the remaining bumps in my transfer from one dimension to another (talking to Tsuyoshi, buying new clothes, learning Japanese, and so on), but it's not as if I have much time, either. And for something like learning Japanese, I'm going to need a lot of time.

* * *

_…First, Thursday…_

* * *

"Is it… here?" Gokudera asks tentatively. The four of us stand outside of the reception room with Reborn tagging along behind us. Actually, Tsuna is more or less passed out on the shoulders of Yamamoto and Gokudera, due to Reborn's little poisonous sea urchin costume.

"Mm," Reborn says, confirming that this is the right place. _Hell no_, I want to say. _This is definitely NOT the right place_. Knowing what's going to come inside this room later doesn't make it any less scary.

"Right," I say. "Since it looks like you guys are handling this well, I'll just be off now to-"

THUNK. Reborn's foot collides with my face, kicking me into the reception room and abruptly knocking me out.

.:.

When I wake up about 20 minutes later, I'm almost about to drown in a swimming pool.

I flail about for a moment, making strange noises, and then regain my senses and stop moving, allowing myself to float on my back. Then I backstroke to the edge of the pool where I spot Yamamoto, Gokudera, and Tsuna, and hoist myself up, coughing water out of my lungs. Ugh. Wearing a wet uniform feels so uncomfortable. Wait, why was I in a swimming pool in the first place?

Oh, right, Dying Will Tsuna has just rescued us from Hibari and Reborn makes his escape from the reception room by blowing up a window and parasailing out while dropping Tsuna into the school swimming pool.

I'm just wondering how Tsuna managed to hold three people with two hands. There must have been some serious misbalance issues with that situation. And wait, since I was unconscious as well (kudos to Reborn)… did Hibari try and chuck me out of a window?

I shiver unintentionally, and it's not because of the water. Good thing I was already passed out. I'd rather have Reborn do it than Hibari.

* * *

_…And then, Friday…_

* * *

Yamamoto grips my wrist with his iron clamp of a hand again as he drags me up the stairs and to the roof.

"Yamamoto! Do your cleaning duties yourself!" I say, and he laughs.

"Maa, maa, cleaning is fun with more people! Just wait while I fetch Tsuna."

My hip nearly hits the staircase banister as he saunters up the stairs, and I'm about to initiate a game of tug-of-war when suddenly, we've reached the roof.

"Yoh, Tsuna!" Yamamoto calls out as he spots his friend and steps onto the roof. "We've got repair work duty again."

"Yamamoto! White-san!" Tsuna shrieks, and I take this as my cue to look up and spot the tiny Chinese girl flying at an incredible speed in our direction. For the sake of not being fried to a crisp by the Pinzu Time Bomb explosion, I do the first thing that pops into my mind.

"Yamamoto!" I hiss. "Baseball! 90 degrees!"

He looks up immediately with an "Oh?" and spots I-pin's head (which, conveniently, actually does look like a baseball) accelerating towards us at an alarming speed. His expression immediately hardens and he lets go of my arm. His stance tenses, his eyes smolder with focus, and his arm stretches up, intercepting I-pin's head (ouch) perfectly in his palm.

"Catcher!" he yells roughly as he brings back his arm and lifts his leg, preparing the catapult. "Back home!"

His back arches and his upper body lurches forward as his arm propels I-pin right back to a very shocked Tsuna.

The sound of the launch of a Dying Will bullet echoes across the roof moments later, and Tsuna begins his little matrix-transformation even as I-pin soars across the roof (poor I-pin).

His rebirthed self bends upward with perfect timing to catch I-pin's head in his hand (ouch again for I-pin), and he stretches backward, preparing to fling her into the sky. And he does, creating a marvelous ball of flame in the air that no doubt kills several species of birds.

* * *

_…And Saturday…_

* * *

*snore… snore… snore…*

*fwap!*

…. "Unnnngh, Yamamoto, put the covers back."

"Come on, Ana, it's Saturday! Let's go play in the park! Ahahahaha!"

* * *

_…And Sunday…_

* * *

Pink smoke from Lambo's ten-year bazooka slowly filters out of Tsuna's bedroom.

"What?" yells a shocked Tsuna. "I-pin is a girl?"

"N-No way," says Gokudera from the ground.

Yamamoto interrupts with his cheery voice. "Who's this? Someone you know?"

"She's very pretty…!" Haru exclaims, and then immediately becomes suspicions and starts making her "hnnn" noise, sensing a possible rival for Tsuna's love.

I stand there, deadpanning at their comments and wondering why no one is questioning how a teenage girl suddenly appeared in Tsuna's room. Why did Yamamoto have to drag Gokudera and me to do homework at Tsuna's house on a Sunday…? Oh, right… "Homework is fun with more people!"

Never mind that, I've got to get out of here before Lambo wakes up and triggers the Pinzu Time Bomb with the keyword "broccoli monster." I'm not exactly fond of being fried alive by an explosion.

* * *

_…And Monday…_

* * *

"Yamamoto!" I scream. "Let me down fro-"

My statement is cut off when he maneuvers his left hand behind his back and wraps it around my chin. I pound his rock of a back with my fists (because, as you've probably guessed, I'm once again slung over his shoulder like his personal parrot), but he pays about as much attention as he would if I were poking him and continues walking.

"Maa, maa, Ana! We're only going to watch a boxing match! Don't you want to support Tsuna?"

_If you had asked this nicely before instead of zooming into the classroom and dragging me outside,_ I think to myself, _I would have gone somewhat willingly..._

He strides across the school grounds, going somewhere, but I can't see because my face is smashing against his back. I swing my head over and take a peek from his side, and I realize that we're almost at the building that hosts the boxing club and other extracurricular activities.

Tsuna shouldn't be here yet, but it seems like Ryohei is... My suspicions are confirmed when a yell shakes the building. "EXTREME!"

Oh Lord. This is going to be a long (and loud) afternoon.

* * *

And finally, Tuesday.

I realize that I'm never going to be able to finish everything I need to if I can't escape from Yamamoto for a day, and so far, the only method that's been the most successful at escaping the baseball star is being evasive (and that actually hasn't worked out well at all).

It's not that I don't want to spend time with Yamamoto. His easygoing personality makes me feel like I can depend on him and his playful attitude gives me experiences of friendship that I've never had before, in both the previous world and this one. It's just that personally, I think it would bore him if he had to come shopping with me. My sarcastic and closed-off personality makes me difficult to spend time with. Not to mention that his grade is already low enough without me lowering it more by having him skip a day of school.

Yamamoto wraps his arm around my shoulder on the walk to school and talks about baseball, and I nod every once in a while to indicate to him that I'm listening. I smile at his enthusiasm and energy.

We bump into Tsuna and Gokudera at the bridge and Yamamoto goes off to greet them, automatically eliciting "baseball-idiot" comments from Gokudera. I tag behind the trio of teens, inwardly snorting at Tsuna trying to calm his two friends down.

My mind gradually stars tuning out of their conversation as we walk and begins to wander. As Yamamoto chats about an upcoming tournament, I figure out that if I can get permission from the teachers and leave school early, I can probably sneak out sometime while Yamamoto is talking with Tsuna and Gokudera. I don't really have a plan that's better than that (jumping out of a classroom window would be a little too extreme), so I mentally confirm that this will be my plan of action.

Getting permission from the teachers is simple. When we reach the classroom, Yamamoto tells me that we'll meet up later and heads in the direction of Tsuna's desk, leaving me the perfect opportunity to talk with my teachers. After scouting multiple classrooms, I end up with a day's worth of lesson plans in my bag and permission from all of the teachers to take a day off and focus on "organizing my academics and prioritizing my skill in the Japanese language." Most of them agree that given my situation as the new student, a day off to catch up and confirm that I'm on level with the rest of the class would be beneficial.

I feel a little guilty for ditching Yamamoto without honestly telling him, but I guess this makes up for the fact that I spent my entire Saturday playing baseball with him in the park. I managed to actually hit the ball after his 42nd pitch.

Moreover, I've decided to talk to Tsuyoshi today, and talking with someone about matters like shelter and custody is just one of those types of situations that's better off as a one-to-one chat.

I walk past classroom 1-A on my way back from my last teacher's classroom and spot Yamamoto talking with the homeroom teacher through the windows. My lip reading skills are terrible, but I'm pretty sure Yamamoto has just mouthed my name. And is that the teacher mouthing "day off" in response? Oh crap. Yamamoto is going to put the pieces together faster than I expected.

I immediately drop to a crouch so that no one will so me through the windows and begin waddling quickly across the hallway. Some students look at me strangely, and it occurs to me that I look like a duck or something. I waddle around a corner right before I hear the door to classroom 1-A open and Yamamoto's voice echo throughout the hallway, curiously calling out my name.

Safe from his sight, I get up from my awkward duck position and bolt towards the staircase, trying to sound as quiet as possible on the way. I take the steps down two at a time and fling myself at a dead run towards the school doors, nearly slamming into some lockers and decapitating myself. I slow to a jog when I spot the school gates and look back over my shoulder to make sure that no one is following me. Sorry, Yamamoto...

_WHAM!_

Something flies into my stomach while I'm looking backwards and I keel over from the pain, coughing. I freeze when I realize what it is that's just walloped my belly. A tonfa.

"You," a steely, cold voice says from behind me, and my skin prickles. "Running in the hallways is against school rules. Skipping school is against school rules. For breaking two rules, I'll bite you to-"

"H-Hibari!" I say, and his eyes gleam because I've interrupted him again. "M-Make sure _no one_ else leaves this school today," I say shakily from the ground.

"What do you mean, herbivore?" he says in a deathly quiet voice. "You're not leaving this school eithe-"

I disappear faster than the speed of light, leaving a cloud of dust in my wake.

* * *

I ambiguously wonder about Hibari as I trail my way through Namimori Town. For the past week and a half, I've dashed away every time he spots me, but I think that's only made things worse... when he sees me now, his eyes gleam, wanting to give me the 50 beatings that I haven't received yet for breaking school rules.

I realize that by hightailing away from him every time he sees me, I've created a challenge... a challenge of whether he can catch me or not. And Hibari never backs down from a challenge.

A shiver runs up my spine. Perhaps I should start coming to school in disguise...

I shake off my thoughts of being bitten to death and focus on the day ahead as I arrive at the Namimori shopping district, which Yamamoto pointed out to me last week. The shops lining the street give off a cozy yet sophisticated feeling, and my first impression is that of an outdoors mall.

Buying new clothes is first on my agenda, so I keep my eyes peeled for clothing stores as I stroll past the shops. A person passing by looks me over and frowns a bit in distaste, and my expression blanches as I continue to walk. Perhaps it's because I look like a foreigner...? Another woman passing by sports the same expression after spotting me, and I almost go up, strangle her, and ask her if she has a problem or not. Maybe I have one of those dumb "kick me" signs pasted to my body somewhere and I just haven't realized it. I stop on the street momentarily and observe myself in the glass of a shop window.

Today, September 21st, is actually the first day I've been required to wear the yellow Namimori Junior High blazer to school, since the 21st signals the official end of summer and beginning of autumn in the northern hemisphere. My bow tie is straight, my skirt is neat, my socks are pulled up properly... so what's with the nasty looks? I pat my light brown hair a bit, but it's combed and straight. There's nothing on my face, either, from what I can see... except a frown.

I step back and observe myself harder as another person passes behind me with a disapproving look. "It's because you're ugly," my sarcastic subconscious says to me, and I tell her to go back into hibernation. Then it hits me.

It's _because_ I'm wearing my school uniform. The fact that I'm in the shopping district with my uniform during a school day screams "SCHOOL SKIPPER" to every person walking by me.

I quickly pull off the bow tie and shove it in the pocket of the blazer. Then I peel of the coat, sling it over my arm in attempt at looking casual, roll my socks down to my ankles, and unbutton my blouse a bit. My school bag stays slung over my shoulder like a purse. There. Now I look like a tourist wearing a skirt and blouse in the shopping district. Though I really don't think anyone would wear a blouse for comfort these days...

I brush some invisible dust off of my shoulders and continue to walk, glaring at anybody who still decides to look at me strangely.

A store I'm passing by catches my eye. Mannequins are posed stylishly in the display window and I scowl at one who's lost all of her fingers except for the middle one. In Japan, the middle finger isn't an offensive symbol anyways. The skirt the mannequin is wearing is nice, though...

I step into the shop, triggering the ringing of a bell that's hanging from the door, and automatically hear a "Irashaimase - Welcome to our shop!" I nod politely at the salesclerk and proceed to get lost in the rows and rows of clothes, snatching up shirts, shorts, and the occasional skirts that I find appealing. Japan uses European clothing sizes, so it takes me a while to dig up clothes that will fit me.

I pause my little shopping spree when I have seven pairs of shorts and skirts combined, and seven T-shirts. My logic says I can wear one outfit for each of the seven days of the week and then wash my clothes before the beginning of the next one.

Now I just need to find the cashier... I turn around, abruptly bumping into a person that I didn't notice was behind me, and drop a skirt. Darn these Asians and their sneakiness...

"Bianchi?" I instinctively say her name at the sight of the purple-haired woman, cutting my thoughts off. She looks up from the ground, since she's bent down to pick up the fallen skirt, and her eyes widen in recognition.

"Ooh, my fellow comrade in love!" she says with approval.

_Uh…._

"Why are you here?" she asks inquisitively, standing up and handing back the skirt. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

I blink at the question and quickly respond. "No, no, I got permission from the teachers for a day off. I needed to buy some resources and sort out my priorities..."

I trail off, and she nods. "I see. I came to restock on mushrooms..." _I can guess for what_, "...but these lovely pants caught my eye." She holds up a pair of tight leather pants that look two sizes too small for her and blushes a bit, no doubt thinking about how Reborn will react to her choice of clothing.

I blanch. "They're... pretty," I say. Then I inwardly smile to myself at Bianchi's dreamy expression. Sometimes, it's really refreshing to see how much she cares for Reborn. "I'm sure they'll capture the attention of the one who you intend to impress."

Her eyes widen a bit at my comment and she blushes more (dang, Reborn really does completely change her personality) before saying "You're too kind!" She looks like she wants to add something, and I find out what it is through her next comment. "I don't believe I ever caught your name..."

"Oh!" I say, genuinely surprised. That's right; I haven't spent much time with Bianchi yet. "It's Anastasia. Anastasia White. But you can call me Ana, if you'd like."

"Ana, then," she says, a bit surprised that I have people call me by my personal nickname. She eyes the clothes in my hands. "Returning those?" she says.

"Huh? Oh no, I was just about to buy them."

She automatically looks horrified and snatches the skirt from my hands, waving it around.

"This?" she says incredulously. Then she grabs and paws through the rest of my clothing, sighing with disapproval.

"This is a fashion disaster!" she says.

Ouch. She's probably just hurt the feelings of seven clothing designers somewhere in the world. Personally, I don't really see what's wrong with the clothes I've chosen...

"What do you mean?" I say, a little confused, and she looks at me skeptically.

"Come," she says curtly in response, and grabs my arm, abandoning the clothes that I've chosen and dragging me out of the shop.

And before I know it, she's flying me through the shops of the Namimori shopping district at an incredible speed.

* * *

By lunch, I have 8 miniskirts, 5 (extremely) short shorts, 5 tank tops, 6 T-shirts, 2 dresses, and a pair of tight jeans.

I nearly trip as I stumble my way across the shopping district, holding all four of my bags. God, I never knew Bianchi was a shopaholic. I think I burned a fair amount of calories trying to convince her that I don't need a push-up bra or metal-studded belts.

Sighing, I make my way to a nearby bench and collapse, dropping my bags onto the ground. Bianchi left me after saying that she needed to buy her mushrooms and return to Tsuna's house to cook a "meal full of love for Reborn," so I'm once again alone in the Namimori shopping district.

Wearily, I draw a skirt out of the nearest bag and look it over with a slight frown. A couple of fashion questions flash through my head. Why is it so frilly? How does one fit that many layers on a single skirt? Is Bianchi aiming to cosplay me as a sea anemone? I place the skirt back into the bag and randomly take out another article, hoping that the skirt was just an exception. I stare at the tank top that's now in my hands and hold it out so I can see its full length. Or should I say, lack of length. If I were to put this on, my skin would show up to at least two inches above my belly button.

I give up on assessing my clothes and arch my head backwards, resting it on the top edge of the bench. Perhaps I shouldn't have taken fashion advice from Bianchi… then again, I'm the one that paid for them, and besides, I've always had tomboy preferences in clothing anyways. Perhaps her choices were actually normal for most girls….

My stomach growls suddenly, reminding me that it's lunch time, and I hoist up my bags, preparing to hike across the road. I try and remember if there was any certain place that I wanted to eat at for lunch... there are so many Japanese foods that I want to try.

Then the perfect place comes into mind, and I smile. I was going to talk to Tsuyoshi today anyways, right? It's time to kill two birds with one stone.

* * *

_Thanks again so much to everybody that's reviewed! **Aleiafae**, **Hayate the Soul Reaper**, **The Mouse Maestro**, **Ynnah**, **xxOMGgalxx**, and now **Autore Raita**, **Chuu112**, and **DerpyDes** as well. And that one Guest reviewer that everybody has. Reviews are always seriously and truly appreciated. (^_^) I apologize if the story is still confusing. (;_;) I suppose it's just my inexperience as a writer._

_I'll try to improve my writing and make it more realistic as this story continues!_


	7. Do Bucking Horses Fall from Trees?

___Disclaimer: I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn._

_Hi there again! I wrote a pretty _long_ chapter this time, so please excuse the fact that it's a bit late... and also that fact that I might not release another one for a while... and judging by the way that Chapter 8 is coming together right now, it might end up being extras... (;_;)_

_Anyways, I seriously want to apologize for all the loose ends I haven't wrapped up in my story yet. I have a lag time of about two chapters, so if you point out a mistake or oddity to me, it'll take me like two chapters to fix it. (;_;) _

_A Guest in one of the reviews pointed out that I accidentally put 'Sawada' as Tsuna's first name in chapter three... sorry about that. As you probably know, Japanese isn't my native language, and I'm still trying to get the hang of how it works. (;_;) Please point out my stupid mistakes if you see one! I really appreciate it._

_**Hayate the Soul Reaper**: I think I said that Anastasia's school uniform skirt reaches to about her knees... the way I was envisioning it, the skirt is long enough to cover up her *cough* underwear when Yamamoto decides to have fun. (^_^) Since she didn't go shopping until the last chapter, I believe the first time she wears a skirt that's somewhat short is in this chapter. (TT_TT) Sorry if I didn't make that clear enough! As for your other question, I don't have any plans in particular for Hibari... for now. ;)_

_**hello-totoro-ninja**: Oh... that's kind of awkward..._

_Thanks to everyone else who reviewed as well! Your kind comments really cheered me up. (^_^) And without further ado, please enjoy!_

* * *

A small bell rings as I enter the sushi shop, letting out a dainty sound. A few people are scattered about at the tables, but the shop is mostly empty. Tsuyoshi told me once it's because most people are working during lunch time on weekdays.

"Irashaimase! Welcome!" I hear. Tsuyhoshi is cutting a block of raw fish, and I briefly wonder if I've ever seen him anywhere besides behind the sushi bar.

"How may I help- Ana!" Tsuyoshi cuts off his instinctive greeting when he notices that it's _me_ approaching the bar. Before he can ask me about my terrible school-skipping habits, I swing myself into one of the stools by the bar, set down my bags, and smile tentatively.

"It's ok," I say. "I got permission from the teachers to take a day off and focus on my studies."

He grins in a knowing way and eyes my shopping bags. "And have you been focusing on your studies?"

I think about my Bianchi-style shopping spree. "Sure…" I say, and he laughs.

"Make sure you actually finish your schoolwork later though," he says a bit more seriously, fatherly instincts kicking in, and I nod with determination, not wanting to disappoint him.

"So?" he says, returning to his chopping. "What brings you here today, ma'am?"

I play along, taking on the role of a customer. "Actually sir," I say with a smile, "I'm new here in town, and I'm dying to try some great sushi. Are there any dishes you would recommend?"

He feigns a thoughtful expression for a moment and then whips out a sushi catalog out of nowhere.

"Well, ma'am," he says as he traces his finger across a row of elaborate looking sushi rolls pictures on the catalog, "all of these right here are our special rolls…" He arches an eyebrow. "…but for you, I think you would like _this_ one better."

His finger lands on a roll towards the middle of the page, and my eyes follow. I can't read the name of the roll since the catalog is in Japanese, but I recognize it from the picture automatically. Dynamite Roll. It's by far the best-tasting roll I've had out of all the leftovers I've eaten here. But how did Tsuyoshi know?

His eyes twinkle as if he knows what I'm thinking. "Your face is very easy to read when you're eating, Anastasia," he whispers with a grin, and then returns his voice to normal volume, snapping back to our little waiter-customer skit. "So? What do you think, ma'am?"

"It looks delicious, sir," I say with a hint of humor in my voice. "I'll have _two_ of those."

He arches an eyebrow at me skeptically and we share an awkward moment in which we stare at each other blankly. Then he turns and steps towards the ingredient room, mumbling about teenagers and growth. He turns his head and flashes me a grin at me before disappearing into the back room.

I look around the shop a bit from my stool as I wait. The small number of people that were here have left their payment on the tables and filtered out of the shop by now, leaving me alone. I slowly rest my head on the bar's countertop, partly because I'm somewhat tired and partly because I have nothing better to do at the moment.

I'm a bit anxious about how I'm going to strike up a conversation with Tsuyoshi about staying here and paying him. I strongly feel as if I need to do something more to show my gratitude, but I'm not exactly sure what…

I slightly lift my head at the sound of Tsuyoshi coming out of the back room and hear a chuckle.

"Tired?" he asks, and I mumble "Yeah," before settling my head down once more.

A sudden BAM! shakes the counter and I nearly throw up my stomach and fall off the seat. It takes me a second to figure out that the noise was caused by Tusyoshi bringing his knife down onto the chopping board.

Tsuyoshi laughs at my expression but quickly looks towards his salmon, whistling nonchalantly, when I send him an incredulous look. He sneaks a peek at my still-incredulous expression and then grins again. "Sorry," he says. "My hand slipped."

"Uh huh," I say. "I totally believe you."

"Falling asleep in restaurants is rude," he says in a mock scolding tone, and I blanch. I wonder if the entire Yamamoto family has this type of playful attitude. Then I wince when I realize there are only two of them.

Changing the subject, Tsuyoshi looks to me again, a bit more serious now, and says, "Hey, can you do me a favor?"

I nod, eager to help and curious about what he needs. "Yeah, sure thing. What is it?"

"Can you go around and pick up the customers' money?" He nods his head towards the empty tables while chopping onions. "The cash register is over there-" he tilts his head towards the left, and I spot the machine behind the bar "-and all of the money goes in, since we're family-owned. Means we keep all the money."

"What about tips?" I ask, and Tsuyoshi looks at me and tilts his head a bit, confused.

"Tips?"

"Yeah, tips," I say. "You know, gratuity for someone who's serving you."

He laughs as he chops his onions. "That's a silly idea..." he says." The service is already covered by the price given. Why would someone want to pay more?"

"O-Oh..." I say, and laugh nervously. "Point taken."

No tipping people in Japan. Got it.

I nod to myself and slip off the bench after listening to his instructions, and he returns to chopping. Weaving my way through tables, I pick up small piles of coins and some slips of paper money as well.

I'm suddenly reminded of my dad. He never really liked having coins in his wallet since they're heavy and fall easily, so he would get rid of them by randomly including them as part of the tip after eating at a restaurant.

A familiar sinking feeling hits my chest and my mind instinctively fills itself with thoughts of moving on and random topics to distract myself from thinking of leaving everything in my past world behind. Because that's what I do. When it comes to pain, I'm a coward. I'd rather leave it in the past and try to move on.

I initiate a speeding train of thoughts to bury my negative thoughts with as I collect the last of the money.

_This is a nice sushi shop. Wow, it looks hot outside today. Darn global warming. Does Japan even have global warming? I wonder what Tsuna's doing. I wonder what Yamamoto's doing... how am I going to pay Tsuyoshi for his kindness?_

I ponder the last question as I make my way behind the sushi bar and arrive at the cash register. Cue deadpan. The buttons are in Japanese. I engage in an intense staring contest with the cash register, trying to determine which button says "open"... reason says it's the huge button on the right, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. I don't want to actually press a button that says "self-destruct."

"Open"... "open"... I'm pretty sure I've seen the characters for "open" in literature class. One of them looked like a box... and the second was a squiggly. Yes, I know, my descriptive skills are astounding. I quickly spot a pair of characters that match, and go figure, they're on the button that I thought might say "self-destruct."

I slowly press the button, waiting for an explosion, but instead, a drawer comes flying out of the bottom of the cash register and clotheslines me in the stomach with a loud "CA CHING!"

An involuntary "oof" escapes from my mouth as I jump backwards, and I hear a snicker from my left. I immediately whip my head around to look at Tsuyoshi, but he's gone back to pasting sour cream on seaweed and whistling inconspicuously, grinning just like Yamamoto.

I sigh and cautiously approach the aggressive cash register again with the money, determining where to place what. I'm somewhat surprised when I see ¥1000 bills, just because 1000 yen sounds a bit expensive to me. What was the conversion factor again? I believe it was 1 yen is about 1 cent. Which means... 1000 yen is about 10 dollars. Wow.

I sort ¥1000 and ¥500 bills into their proper places and move onto the coins, staring a bit at the fact that the ¥50 and ¥5 coins have holes in their middles. Their shape automatically reminds me of donuts.

I close the cash register gently, not wanting to "upset" it, and Tsuyoshi looks over at the sound of the click.

"Done?" he says, and I nod. He grins. "Thanks."

"No problem," I say, and then smile slyly. "But more importantly sir, I'm rather unsatisfied at the waiting time in this restaurant. My sushi is taking quite a while."

"Well, ma'am," he says matter-of-factly, "that's what you get for ordering _two_ rolls."

I let out a genuine laugh, and Tsuyoshi momentarily stares at me, surprised. "Ah," he says, and his expression softens. "So she can laugh."

"O-Oh," I say, a bit flustered, and I blink twice. "Sorry." I apologize instinctively, though I don't know why.

"There's no need to apologize," he says as he finishes rolling the sushi. "Everyone has to laugh once in a while."

I contemplate this momentarily. I suppose I don't really laugh that much...

"I guess so," I say, and smile.

We collapse into an awkward silence (inflicted by yours truly), and I watch as he takes the two sushi rolls and places them on a plate, preparing them for cooking. The Dynamite Roll is fried, after all. He takes a spoon next and skillfully drizzles batter over the rolls, unintentionally making my mouth water.

"I'm going to go fry these, all right?" he says with a grin, and I nod with another tentative smile.

"Perhaps I can collect the dirty dishes that people left on the table while you're in the kitchen," I say. I'd just be sitting around otherwise, and I feel as if I owe Tsuyoshi a lot more than I've repaid with my actions.

"You don't need to trouble yourself," he says as he lifts the dish, "but if you really want to, I won't stop you."

I nod, eager to help. Tsuyoshi shrugs.

"The sink is back in the kitchen, where I'm going. You can just put them in there for now," he says.

"You don't want me to wash them?" I ask with mock sadness.

"Are you really that captivated with doing chores?" he retorts.

"… Yes."

A gust of imaginary wind blows through the sushi shop.

Tsuyoshi breaks into a grin after a few seconds. "All right then," he says. "Let's get to work. Your sushi is going to spoil if I keep standing here like this."

"Roger that, captain," I say with a salute, and turn towards the tables with an involuntary smile.

* * *

Chatting with Tsuyoshi is like breathing. It comes so naturally, so effortlessly, that I wonder why he hasn't ditched his sushi shop and applied for a job in social services or something. But no; instead, he's here, cooking sushi for me and chatting while I was the dishes at the sink beside him.

Soon, the glorious smell of fried sushi is filling the kitchen. Tsuyoshi finishes cooking right as I finish washing and gracefully flips the sushi rolls onto a plate to be decorated.

The final product is a work of art that could rival the Mona Lisa. It's certainly tastier, judging by the ridiculous amounts of saliva leaking into my mouth.

He holds the plate high in the air with one hand and steps out of the kitchen. I trail behind him, captivated by the smell and appearance of the sushi.

"Sit down before you eat," he says, smiling at my eagerness to devour his cooking, and I bolt out from behind the bar and take a seat on a stool as fast as I can.

He gently sets the plate down in a butler-like fashion. "Two Dynamite Rolls, ma'am. I hope you enjoy!"

I barely remember that I'm in Japan and shout out an "Itadakimasu!" before picking up the first piece of sushi and popping it in my mouth.

Oh. My. God.

I moan as the flavor bursts through my mouth. Not that anyone _actually_ moans when they eat. I can't help it, though. It tastes _so_ much better right of the skillet.

Tsuyoshi crosses his arms and watches me eat ravenously with a smile. We settle into a comfortable silence as I stuff my mouth with sushi and begins to clean up by polishes knives.

_Now_, I suddenly think to myself. I've finished the first roll, and the silence gives me a perfect opportunity. _Now is the time that I need to talk with him_.

"Ne, Tsuyo- ... Yamamoto-san," I say, catching myself just in time.

"You can call me Tsuyoshi," he says, and looks up momentarily, grinning. "Yes?"

"Well..." I say, not sure how to start this, "I need some advice."

He nods while continuing to polish the knives. "Go ahead, I'm listening."

"Uhm... I have this friend," I say. "And... and she doesn't have a home."

Wow. It's so obvious that I'm talking about myself.

"But she found these great and really kind people, and she's living in their home right now."

"Wow," Tsuyoshi says with a warm grin, "they're really nice people."

Yeah. I think he's picked up on my little metaphor. I look down at the countertop.

"Yeah..." I say gloomily. "But the thing is, she feels... guilty, for staying with them. She feels bothersome. Annoying. She feels bad for using their home, and eating their food, and sleeping in their bed... but she has nowhere else to go."

I take a deep breath as Tsuyoshi continues to polish. "She's managed to make some money by selling information to someone who needed it - because she's pretty knowledgeable - so she was thinking that maybe, it would be best for everyone if... if she found somewhere else to live. An apartment, perhaps, or a hotel."

Tsuyoshi cuts in. "That's unreasonable," he says, and I look up. He's speaks with a grin as he focuses on the knives he's polishing. "I think she's a little too paranoid. How does she know that she's being bothersome and annoying? Perhaps the family enjoys having her there. Has she asked them?"

I shake my head tentatively. "No. But-" I say, but Tsuyoshi cuts me off.

"Perhaps... well, let's say for example - and just for example -" he adds with a wink, "that this family didn't have any women in it. Let's say that the mother of the family passed away when their only son was still young."

Wow. Tsuyoshi just told me his wife passed away as if he were talking about the weather. But when I observe him a little more, I do notice that his grin is a bit more reminiscent, his eyes filled with a tiny but of nostalgia.

"Then," Tsuyoshi continues, "wouldn't the family be happy that your friend is living with them? Personally, I think that she'd be able to provide them with the experiences of having a daughter, or a sister, or just having someone to care about them in the way that only a woman can. I think that she would add excitement to their lives, and lead them to realizations that they've never seen before. I think that she would truly be welcome in their household."

An overwhelming, warm feeling of acceptance rushes through me, and my eyes moisten momentarily before I rapidly blink the tears away.

"B-But..." I say, and the tone of my voice reflects my tears. "She's a stranger to them. She hasn't told them anything about her life. And they don't know how _wrong_ she feels for just barging into their house without revealing a single thing about her past. They don't know how remorseful she feels for burdening them with an extra mouth to feed and another sarcastic person to deal with. They don't know..."

Tsuyoshi has approached me and leans over the bar while I stare back at him, miserable. My sarcastic subconscious tells me I look really ugly right now.

"Didn't you hear a single thing of what I just told you?" Tsuyoshi says with a grin. "They _enjoy_ having her in their home. They _want_ her to stay. And to them, it might not matter that they don't know anything about her. The past is the past. They learned that when the mother passed away. Your friend may be a stranger to them, but what matters is that she's there with them right now. And no matter who she was in her past, from what I've heard, in the present she's truly a genuinely kind, funny, and entertaining girl."

I hang my head so that he won't see the tear that's trailing down my cheek, and he ruffles my hair.

"T-Thank you," I say. I look up him, and I can't help but smile.

"No," he says with a grin. "Thank _you_."

I'm suddenly embarrassed at my pitiful reactions and compose myself, coughing lamely into my fist a couple of times to disguise wiping away my tears. "Here," I say as I look up and draw out 2000 yen from Reborn's stash in my pocket. "You need to accept this."

Tsuyoshi arches an eyebrow. "Is this the money you made by... selling information?" He says the last two words with some concern, probably thinking I'm actually a drug dealer or something. "In any, case, I can't take it," he continues. "Kindness is not something that money can buy."

"But sushi is," I say, and wave the yen around in his face. "This isn't for your kindness. It's for the sushi." I place the yen down on the counter.

"_This_," I say as I draw out all the remaining cash I have left, "is for your kindness." I slap the thick pile of yen onto the counter.

His eyes widen a bit at my month's worth of money. "Ana," he says, "I can't accept that. You'll have to keep it."

"Too late," I say with a smirk. "I know how to open the cash register now."

"Unfortunately," he says back with a grin, "so do I, and I'm going to keep returning the money to you until you save it."

I throw my hands up in the air. "Why won't you accept the money?" I say exasperatedly.

"Why won't you keep it?" he retorts.

I glare at him. He glares back.

I sigh, and he laughs. "I'm not taking the money," he says. "You'll have to keep it."

"I have to give you something, though," I say, frustrated. "I know you say that there's no price to kindness and hospitality... but I'll continue to feel guilty until I can at least return the favor in some way."

"You're a tenacious one, aren't you?" he says, and grins. "The fact that you've been taking care of Takeshi for me is more than enough as a payment. If you _really_ insist on doing _something _to relieve your guilt, finish _that_." He points to the one Dynamite Roll on my plate that I totally forgot about. "It took me a long time to make that."

I automatically pick up a piece and pop it into my mouth, re-experiencing the joys of the flavor. I think hard as I munch on the delicacy. What can I do? _What can I do?_ My eyes light up as I think of the perfect solution.

"I'll work here!" I declare, and Tsuyoshi stares at me in surprise. "I'm sure I can help you by washing dishes, or collecting money, or just greeting customers... managing the shop will be easier if there's someone to take care of the small tasks."

I'm getting more excited now, eager to help and finally show Tsuyoshi that I'm not just a leech who lives at people's sushi shops for free.

"I can work dinner shifts, you know, after school, when..." I abruptly trail off as I come to a realization. It seems Tsuyoshi has known my realization all along, because he voices it out in his next statement.

"You're a teenager, you know," he says with a grin. "You have better things to do than premature work."

Right... if I work on weekdays, I won't be able to keep tabs on Tsuna and company. And now that I'm "part of the family"... I have a feeling that I'd be disappointing Tsuyoshi a lot if I committed to working on weekdays.

I sigh and smash my head onto the counter. What can I do? _What can I do?_ My eyes light up yet again as I lift up my head with renewed vigor.

"Weekends!" I declare. "I'll work on weekends. I know that things might come up, and that I may not be able to come every weekend, but promise me you'll at least let me help out around the shop as much as I can. For free. I don't want to be paid." I nod my head with determination. "Please, just let me help out when I can. It's the least I can to to show how grateful I am for everything that you've done for me."

He mulls over my proposal for a minute. I sit on the edge of my seat, waiting for his reply.

"Fine," he says, and I let out a gigantic breath of relief. "But only on weekends. And only if you truly have nothing else to do. I don't want you wasting your life and abandoning your studies just to work at Takesushi. If you come during a weekday, I'm going to kick you out." He winks. "And really," he says, "you'd only be doing something more along the lines of volunteering, helping out around the shop without getting paid. It's like what Takeshi does. And that's okay with me. I can manage fine by myself, but seeing as you're so eager to 'repay' my so-called kindness, I guess I have no choice."

I respond with a huge grin on my face. "Thank you. Really, it means a lot to me."

He grins back at me. "It's no problem. You can start this weekend _if_ you have nothing to do." He pats the sushi counter with a decisive sigh. "Now finish your lunch. I'm not going to cook for you anymore if you waste food like this." He feigns a serious face and I blanch for a moment. It'd be _terrible_ if Tsuyoshi stopped cooking. I dig in, finishing the roll and licking the sauce off the tips of my fingers in less than a minute. Who needs chopsticks when you can make _everything_ finger food? I've probably just violated about 50 Japanese customs, though...

Tsuyoshi eyes my dirty fingers and soiled school uniform with disdain, but there's laughter in his eyes as well. He reaches over the counter and picks up the now empty plate, preparing to bring it to the kitchen for washing.

"Go wash and change," he says in a fatherly way. "You look miserable in your uniform. And anyways, wasn't the entire point of skipping school today to study?"

I grin at him. "Perhaps..." I say. "I can't remember anymore."

He looks at me in an "oh come on" kind of way, and I surrender. "Fine, fine. I'll be going now."

I slip off of the bar stool, and he nods with approval as I begin making my way to the staircase at the back of the shop. Before I start walking, though, I turn around to look at Tsuyoshi again.

"Tsuyoshi?"

He looks up at me expectantly.

"Thanks."

He grins his warm, accepting grin. "Anytime."

* * *

I smile to myself as I wander through the streets of the Namimori Shopping District for the second time today. Dealing with my guilt for staying at Takesushi has taken a great weight off my shoulders. The fact that I've just had a warm bath after lunch might also explain my feeling of satisfaction.

I twirl around in my Bianchi-approved skirt and T-shirt, feeling unnaturally feminine. Normally, I'd be horrified at my choice of clothes for the afternoon, but for now, I still haven't sorted out the piles of clothes that I bought this morning (and I was too lazy to do it after lunch...), so this frilly skirt I was criticizing earlier will have to do. It may look ridiculous, but it's actually kind of comfortable, and that's what matters the most to me.

I stop my unnecessary flittering around and peel my eyes for the shop Tsuyoshi described to me. Why am I looking for this shop again? Oh, right. After my bath, I realized that there was still one last thing that I haven't tackled yet to smooth out that fact that I'm from another a dimension: I still don't know how to read or write Japanese.

I debated on whether to tell this or Tsuyoshi or not, but now that he's done so many favors for me, keeping quiet would not only be unmoral but also extremely rude. He was rather surprised to hear that I can't read or write the language.

"What?" he said. "But you speak like a native!"

"Yeah..." I said, scratching my head and not knowing what to say. "I was thinking of finding a bookstore or something where I could buy a language instruction book..."

He shook his head, still not fully believing that I'm not fluent in the Japanese language. "There's a great bookstore in the shopping district," he said after a moment. "They have a small corner in the back that hosts books in English. English is, after all, the 'universal language' nowadays. I'm assuming that English was the language you used to speak?"

I nodded, and he continued.

"I'm not sure if they'll have a book in English that teaches Japanese - in Japan - but it wouldn't hurt to look, I guess." He grinned at me. "But if they don't, or if you ever need any help at all with learning, you old man right here won't hesitate to assist."

I was a bit startled at his use of "old man," but I quickly realized that that's just the way Tsuyoshi is: all-accepting and very personal. An instinctive smile made its way to my face.

"Thanks," I said, and I truly meant it. He nodded with his grin and began describing the shop to me.

And so, here I am, in the shopping district, twirling around in my overly-frilly skirt and searching for a book store. At least people aren't giving me dirty looks anymore since I'm wearing normal clothes.

Finding the store takes about 10 minutes, and finding the tiny English section crammed and camouflaged into the back corner takes me another 10. A couple of really famous books like Harry Potter are stocked back here, but not much else. This is a _Japanese_ bookstore, after all.

I figured that there would perhaps be some language instruction books for tourists, or for foreigners who had just moved, but I ended up only finding one, matter-of-factly titled _Japanese: For Dummies!_

The store clerk frowns a bit when I purchase the book. He probably thinks I'm really a dummy.

I flip the book open and peer at the contents with curiosity as I exit the shop. That's just something I do with books I've purchased. I start reading them immediately after the money has been handed in. It really annoys my father, who's watched me crash into walls as I read a book multiple times. Or at least, _used_ to annoy my father.

An introduction to Japanese talking about its history and value takes up most of the beginning of the thick book, and I casually begin reading as I walk through the shopping district. I intuitively step to the left when a person passes me to the right, and continue walking.

A sudden breeze flips a couple of the pages of the book over, hindering my reading, and I pause as my hair whips around dramatically, scratching my face. The wind feels really nice, though, and I take a moment to enjoy it as it curves around my body and tickles my legs, now exposed because of my frilly skirt that's flapping in the wind... I quickly hold down my skirt with one hand when I realize that I might be revealing a little bit too much.

The breeze dies down, but I continue to stand, thinking. Perhaps I'll find somewhere outside to read this book... there's still plenty of time left in the day to do my homework later (procrastination FTW) and the weather is really nice right now. If I can find that bench in the shopping district that I was sitting on earlier... no, it's a little too noisy in the shopping district. I can't exactly go into a random neighborhood and sit on the road, either... I've already been nearly run over by a car once in this world.

The perfect place to go suddenly hits me. It's pretty much the only place that's quiet enough, open to nature, and accessible to the public... Naimimori Town park. I've been there once already, when Yamamoto insisted that I play baseball with him last Saturday, but I haven't really seen the areas besides the baseball field.

With my curiosity piqued and my enthusiasm provoked, I head off in the direction of the park, lifting up my book once again and resuming my reading.

The entrance to the parks blends into the town, and I don't even realize that I've already entered until medium-tall trees are shadowing the path in front of me. I scoot a bit closer to the edge of the path, enjoying the cool sensation of the shade that the trees provide.

Half of my vision is focused on the book, the other half on the path in front of me. Reading is pretty difficult while walking, but if I focus, I can multitask pretty efficiently. I'm somewhat worried that I'll collide with a random stranger, but if I just sense when there's something in front of me, that shouldn't be a problem…

And right as I think that, I hear the leaves of a tree to my left rustle. I automatically look up from the book at the tree's branches directly above me, craning my neck. Yes, there's definitely something up there that's causing that rustling. Perhaps it's a bird? A squirrel? I'm about to go back to reading the book after the disturbance, but suddenly, something is dropping through the air in a blur, and it's something big. Before I can think, my reflexes kick in, the book drops, and I step backwards. My arms are outstretched and prepared to catch whatever it is that's falling, and my knees are bent, sensing impact. I've gotten good at avoiding being smashed in the head by falling objects ever since that bird pooped on my head three years ago….

I nearly fall when the thing lands in my arms and let out a small "oof." It's heavy, whatever it is. It feels like a boxing bag… oh my God. It's a… a… "A person?" I say dubiously. A young man, what's more. This gives a whole new definition to the term "it's raining men."

I nearly drop him when I realize I'm carrying him bridal style, but he looks pretty scratched up, and dropping him would be pretty cruel. He lets out a groan, still not fully recovered from falling out of a tree.

His head is covered by a leafy branch, so I can't really see who he is. Something about his clothes strikes me as familiar though… black shirt covered by a light green cargo jacket with black fuzz on the hood, long green-brown cargo pants, brown sneakers… oh no. Oh hell no.

Dino Cavallone did not just fall from a tree into my arms.

I let out of a small squeal and forget about my manners, abruptly dropping him. His head makes a pretty rough cracking sound when I drop him, and for a second, I'm afraid that I've seriously injured him, or even killed him. An image of me being sentenced to life in jail at a court pops into my head.

I quickly bend down and remove the tree branch from his face, revealing his full attractiveness and blond head of hair. I have to admit that he's pretty handsome even when he's scratched up like this…

"Dino!" I whisper fiercely as I shake his shoulder. I don't yell out of the fear that some person will hear me and find out that I've murdered someone. "Dino!" I say again. Shouldn't I be adding "-san" to his name?

I shake his shoulder a couple more times while I call his name, and he stirs. His light brown eyes open slowly and he blinks a few times, staring into my face.

I let out an audible sigh of relief. "Thank goodness you're not dead." And I mean it, too. I'm not getting a second life only to spend all of it in jail.

He laughs lightly. "Ow ow ow... Sorry," he says painfully, still trying to recover from getting the air knocked out of his lungs. "I'm pretty clumsy without my subordinates. I mean, erm, friends. I mean, I'm not clumsy... that tree was just really weak."

I arch an eyebrow. It's a little funny hearing Dino trying to blame his clumsiness on anything besides himself.

He pushes his upper body off of the ground, using his hands to brace himself, and I help him. It definitely wouldn't score me brownie points if I let him fall again. He focuses his attention on me again, and narrows his eyes a bit.

"More importantly," he says with suspicion, "who are you? And why can you speak Italian?"

Italian? Oh, right. When I speak to people in this world, they hear me in their mother language. Dino is probably speaking to me in Italian right now as well, but I can understand him because of my language discrepancy.

I suddenly remember something Aegis told me and decide to try something with Dino. I close my eyes and gradually shut out all outside noises except for the pounding of my heart in my head. Then I focus. I focus on forgetting how to understand and speak Italian. I instruct my brain to act as it normally would for now, and suddenly, I feel something click in my head. It's like a momentary dizzy spell, and my eyes jerk open.

Dino is getting more and more wary of me due to my silence and my little zen act. Luckily, he didn't seem to hear that I new his name, so at least I don't seem like a stalker or something. He speaks up again, and surprisingly, he says something I can't understand. It's definitely Italian from the sounds of it, and his tone is implying that he wants me to answer his questions, but I can't understand it explicitly anymore.

"Sorry," I say hurriedly to him in what sounds like English to me. I'm not sure what language I'm speaking to him now, since I've ditched Italian… but it has to be a language he understands, according to the rules of my language discrepancy. "You can't exactly blame me for hesitating. It's not every day that someone falls onto you from a tree. And to answer your questions… my name is Anastasia White. I can speak Italian because…"

What should I say? Because I time traveled from another dimension?

"…because it's a secondary language to me." Well… that's technically true… _all_ languages are secondary languages to me in this world.

Dino has relaxed a bit and looks somewhat surprised. "You can speak Japanese as well?" He scratches the back of his head. "From the color of your hair and eyes and the language you were just speaking, I assumed you were Italian."

I smile lightly and lean back into a crouching position. We must be speaking in Japanese now. "No, I'm actually from America," I say, "and I think it would be best if we keep talking in Japanese from now on. We are in Japan, after all."

"Right," he says, and then gives me a charming smile with a hint of clumsiness. I'm sure some fan girls in some other dimension are squealing right now. An awkward silence follows (no doubt caused by me) and Dino breaks it by groaning again and attempting to get up off the ground. "Well, thanks for breaking my fall," he says as he brushes some leaves off of his coat. "It would have been worse if I fell directly from the tree."

"What were you doing up there, anyways?" I ask, somewhat curious. If my memory is correct, he should be going to Tsuna's house.

"Eh?" he says, looking a little embarrassed. "Well, I, uh, was looking for someone's house."

Huh? Who _actually_ climbs up into a tree to look for someone's house? I'm assuming that he arrived in Namimori either before or after his subordinates, which is why they're not with him. They're probably waiting for him at Tsuna's house right now, with Reborn... meaning that...

"You're lost," I say, and Dino looks momentarily startled.

"No, no, no, I assure, you, I'm just exploring!" he says. "I have some time, anyways, before the person that I'm meeting comes back home." He quickly starts brushing leaves off of the rest of his body.

Oh, that's right. Unlike me, Tsuna didn't skip school today. Perhaps I should help Dino out... leaving a foreigner to wander the streets of Namimori is a little cruel.

"Whose house are you looking for?" I ask, even though I pretty much know the answer. Since I'm inevitably going to meet Dino tomorrow again when he tests the family, there's no point in either revealing that I know him or hiding that I know Tsuna.

He brushes the rest of the leaves off of his pants and then looks up. "Huh? Oh, do you know... Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

"Tsuna?" I feign recognition. "Yeah. His house is in that direction-" I point towards the neighborhood, "-and it's the only one with a red roof in the surrounding area."

At least, I think it is... it'd be terrible if Dino wandered into some random stranger's house.

"In any case, the mailbox has 'Sawada' written on it, so make sure you can check that to confirm it's the right house," I say. Dino ruffles his hair as I begin scouting the ground for my fallen Japanese book.

"O-Oh," he says. "Thanks."

"No problem," I say halfheartedly as I spot my book by the base of the tree he fell from. I step towards the book and bend down to retrieve it while Dino stands and watches me in awkward silence. I'm a bit confused as to why he's still here when he should be getting to Reborn and his subordinates.

I look up at him after I've swung myself up from the ground and smile. We share a bit of awkward eye contact, and my smile falters. It feels like Dino and I have already shared a lifetime of awkward moments together.

"Well," I say, "have a nice day." I am the queen of awkward at the moment.

"Thanks... again," he says, and offers me another one of his smiles. I smile back. I'm kind of glad that I briefly got to meet Dino personally. "Maybe I'll see you around sometime."

"Oh," I say in response as I flip open my book, "you will." Then I turn and trot off, leaving him to contemplate my enigmatic comment.

* * *

Yamamoto is hovering over me like a hawk on the morning of the next day. His arm finds his way around my shoulder on the walk to school, and I suspect that it's to keep me from spontaneously running away and skipping school again. I snort. Wasn't it enough that he coaxed me into tutoring him in Algebra after he got home yesterday?

At least he wasn't mad... but then again, Yamamoto's easygoing personality prevents anger most of the time. He's more sensitive than he is angered... but even with his sensitivity, offending him is pretty hard. Even yesterday, while he permanently tailed me around the shop, shining his puppy eyes at me and pretending to be hurt, I could tell that he was just playing.

"Hey, Yamamoto... where are we going?" My question breaks the silence as we walk (supposedly) to school.

He blinks and looks down at me as we wander throughout Namimori.

"Dunno!"

I mentally facepalm.

"School is" - I point in the direction opposite to the one we're walking in - "that way."

"Oh?" he says with an interested expression. "It doesn't matter, right?" he says.

Actually, if we don't want to be late, it kind of does matter...

"I was thinking that we could walk with Tsuna, anyways, since we're near his house," he says, and I halt. He pauses with me, keeping his arm gripped around my shoulder and staring at me curiously. "Tsuna's house..." I think to myself. Dino's family test is happening this morning, isn't it?

I unintentionally grimace. Perhaps I can somehow avoid getting wrapped up the "plot" and playing mafia this early in the morning?

I peek up at Yamamoto and smile dryly. "I'll say hi to Tsuna when you guys get to school, all right? For now, you go on to his house, and I'll start heading towards the school..."

I trail off when his grip around my shoulder tightens.

"Come on, Ana!" he says. "Walking with Tsuna will be fun!"

Under the guise of a grin and cheerful words, he's telling me that under no circumstances am I going to escape from him again. My pragmatic subconscious evaporates from my body. "Don't say I didn't warn you..." she says as she floats away.

"But..." I say.

"It'll be fun!" Yamamoto repeats, cutting me off.

"But..."

"Maa, maa, come on!"

"But..."

His knees abruptly bend a little as he braces himself for something and his eyes suddenly look mischievous. My intuition goes into overdrive as my posture tenses. _He's going to flip me over his shoulder._

"I get the point!" I yell hurriedly. "I'll walk to school with you and Tsuna."

"Really?" he says happily, and I quickly consent.

"I promise."

"Just so you know, I'm faster than you," he says. I roll my eyes at him.

"Just so you know, you're blackmailing me," I retort, but my expression softens when I notice his genuine grin. I smile at him.

"Come on," I say. "If we're going to walk with Tsuna, let's get there quickly. We're already going to be late for school." My advice is basically pointless since I know that Dino and Reborn are ultimately going to delay us even more with their little shenanigans.

He casually slings an arm around my shoulder, and we walk on in comfortable-but-still-a-bit-awkward-for-me silence.

As we approach Tsuna's house, I notice what looks like a flash mob of men in sharp black suits gathered outside of his yard. Dino's subordinates.

"Oh?" Yamamoto says to me inquisitively. "There sure are a lot of people outside of Tsuna's house this morning!"

I nod in response, wrapped up in how I'm going to deal with Dino... and Reborn.

Gokudera is already there, grinning his only-for-the-Tenth grin, and as Yamamoto and I draw nearer to Tsuna's house, Haru comes from a side street to the right and runs up to Tsuna as well, greeting him. Gokudera scowls at her for disrupting his time with the Tenth.

Yamamoto suddenly calls out a casual exclamation to the group as we reach them. "Morning! What are you guys doing?"

Tsuna's eyes widen at his sudden popularity. Gokudera scowls at both of us, and Haru smiles, ever the hyper and mysterious-desu girl.

"Hey Tsuna," I say with a genuine smile. It's hard not to feel pleasant around a boy who's so naturally endearing. I return Gokudera's scowl with a scowl of my own, catching him off guard, and then smile lightly at Haru, who waves at me.

Tsuna's a bit too surprised to respond to any of our greetings (bless his previously unpopular self), but Dino effectively catches everyone's attention by addressing Gokudera.

"Yo, Hurricane Bomb," Dino says to the bomber, leaning casually against the wall around Tsuna's house and (most likely deliberately) showcasing his tattoo. "This is the first time we meet."

Gokudera narrows his eyes and responds in a low voice while the rest of us watch with mixed expressions of interest. Gokudera has way too many distrust issues for my taste.

"You're..." - Gokudera tenses as he sees Dino's tattoo - "Bucking Horse Dino!"

He spits out the name with distrust (and maybe a little bit of disgust...) as he stares laser beams at Dino, sending Tsuna's "Gokudera's-about-to-start-a-fight" intuition into hysterics.

"Look!" Tsuna says, clutching Gokudera's arm and literally dragging him across the road. "We're going to be late for school, so let's go!"

Gokudera reluctantly lets himself get dragged along, grunting at Dino, and Yamamoto follows with a questioning "Oh...", dragging me along. It's the only thing Gokudera and I have in common right now... we get dragged. That and our scowls. Haru skips along behind us, enthusiastically declaring to walk part of the way to school with us.

I gently swing the arm that Yamamoto is clutching, and, to my surprise, he lets go. I realize he's remembered that I promised to walk to the school with the group, and I smile dryly in response to his grin.

Dino blinks in surprise and tenses a bit when he finally notices me as I pass him, following Yamamoto.

"You...!" he says, surprised, and I offer him a weak smile before I'm whisked along and blocked from his reaction by an impatient Haru behind me and a "you're-not-escaping-me" Yamamoto in front of me.

For now, I push thoughts of Dino aside and cautiously proceed through the rows of mafia men gathered outside Tsuna's house, avoiding eye contact and inspecting my nails intensely.

Yamamoto, Gokudera, and Haru could have been seeing specks of dust for all I know, because none of them seem to bat a single eyelash at the fact that Tsuna suddenly had burly men in suits surrounding his house. Tsuna himself still seemed too wary to mention it to anyone.

As we leave the Sawada residence behind, Tsuna diverges into a conversation with a Dino-frustrated Gokudera behind me, and Yamamoto eagerly chats with Haru in front of me. I tag along in between the two couples (don't be dirty; I don't mean in that way) and continue inspecting my beautiful nails, out of lack of anything better to do.

Now that Tsuna's house is out of view, I'm a bit anxious. Even though I know that soon, Romario is going to speed into the scene in a dashing red sports car and "capture" Tsuna, I also know that I'm most likely going to have to join Gokudera and Yamamoto on their little escapade to rescue their friend (and perhaps, my friend as well, now). I'm not exactly up for gang fights and yakuza this morning... perhaps I'll stay behind with Haru. I feel a bit guilty for having thoughts about ditching Yamamoto again, I'm not worried about him and Gokudera because I know they can beat any gang to a pulp if they feel like it.

I could just tell everyone what's about to happen... that way, I'd be protecting all of them as well. But I don't think Dino has any other way to gauge how trustworthy Tsuna's family is, and I don't think Reborn would be too happy if I ruined his little test. I shudder at the possible consequences and zip my mouth.

"Ana?" Yamamoto's cheery yet curious voice breaks me out of my thoughts. He's stopped walking momentarily and has turned back to look at me. Haru has turned around as well, but her attention is on Tsuna, who's still chatting with Gokudera far behind me. Her expression morphs into one of a daydreaming fangirl, and I snicker internally.

"Helloooo... Anaaa..." Yamamoto has approached me and waves his hand in my face, veering my attention away from Haru.

I blink and look up at his blinding smile, squinting my eyes a bit. I need sunglasses...

"Yes?" I say, trying to look somewhere besides his grin so that my eyes will stop burning.

His smile falters. "Is something wrong?" he asks.

I swivel my eyes back to his, which are glazed with a tiny bit of worry, and raise an eyebrow inquisitively.

"You seem tense today," he says.

_Yeah_, my sarcastic subconscious thinks. _You'd be too if you knew what Reborn and Dino were cooking up for us this morning._

"Oh," I say instead. "I just... I... I have to use the bathroom."

My sarcastic subconscious begins hurling tomatoes at me. "_A ROCK could fabricate a better excuse than that_,"she says, and I tell her to be quiet.

I can tell that Yamamoto is actually about to believe that I need to use the restroom, so I quickly correct myself.

"I mean, I don't actually have to use the bathroom..." I trail off, not exactly sure what to say. Yamamoto stares at me curiously, and Haru seems to have noticed that I'm in a tight situation as well.

After Yamamoto says the word "tense" and I say the word "bathroom" twice, she seems to piece something together.

"Hahi! Could it be..." Haru says, "that you're on your period, Anastasia-chan?"

Yamamoto's face abruptly flushes to a light shade of pink, and his metaphorical nosebleed practically propels him across the street.

I quickly paste on a poker face.

"No," I say immediately and bluntly, "that's certainly not it."

"I see," Haru says, making her "hnnn" noise and inspecting me. She obviously doesn't believe me.

I quickly formulate another excuse for the sake of Yamamoto, who's standing by awkwardly, grinning sheepishly, and rubbing the back of his head.

"I just forgot to do my homework," I say, "and I'm worried about getting scolded." Not exactly true, since Tsuyoshi made sure that I finished my Algebra, but good enough.

Yamamoto and Haru both seem to accept my excuse as logical. "Oh!" Yamamoto says in an understanding kind of way. "We had homework? Ahahaha!"

I sigh. "Yamamoto..."

"That's okay," he cuts in, and grins. "We can get in trouble together. Punishment is less humiliating with more people!"

He suddenly spots Tsuna, who's catching up to us by now, and thinks of something. "Maybe Tsuna forgot too! We can go over to his house if we get extra math problems."

I'm about to protest, but Yamamoto has already turned to face Tsuna and yells out his name.

"Ne, Tsuna!"

Tsuna's attention automatically swings over to the baseball star, much to Gokudera's distaste.

"Did you do your homework?" Yamamoto asks cheerfully as Tsuna and Gokudera meet up with us. Tsuna sports a panicky expression.

"Ah! I forgot!"

My skin prickles. If I remember correctly, _it_ should be happening around now...

"Ahaha!" Yamamoto lets out his trademark easygoing laugh. "Me and Ana too," he says to Tsuna. "We can get scolded together-"

His statement is barely finished when a screeching sound echoes around the neighborhood. Five heads turn towards the source of the sound.

A chic red car rounds the corner at an alarming speed, and I blanch, feeling sorry for Tsuna already. Being dragged by a rope from a car going that fast has got to hurt.

I'm somewhat confused as to why no one is bothering to get out of the way of a speeding vehicle, but I don't have much time to think. The car reaches us in less than a second, and what happens next is probably the last thing I expected.

The door to the car swings open, and suddenly, a rope shoots out. The rope soars through the air in slow motion, impressively bending into a circular lasso shape. _Huh?_ I vaguely think to myself as the rope flies through the air. _Why does it look like that rope is about to land on... me? _I barely have time to realize that _I'm standing between the rope and Tsuna_ before it's nearly reached me.

My eyes instinctively close as the rope hovers over my head, and even as it starts descending over my body, I panic. My innate instincts of survival kick into hyper mode and I find myself doing the last thing I would ever expect to do in this kind of situation: thinking about Macaroni Grill. My dad's grin flashes in my memory. The smell of parmesan flares in my nostrils. The feel of a canvas menu tickles the palms of my hands.

And suddenly, a pounding sensation ripples through my body as my heartbeat echos loudly in my head. My vision of the world dilates and contracts to the rhythm of my heart, which is eerily slowing down with every beat. I gasp, and as I lift my hands to hold my pulsating head, I notice that they're moving faster than the rope that's tightening around my body, which is now disconcertingly moving slower than it was before.

I force my arms down, glue my hands to the side of my body, and watch with fascination as the shrinking of the ring of rope slows, and slows, and slows, barely squeezing my torso before it halts completely. I realize with a start that it's not moving anymore, and I release a breath. Slowly, I ease out of my tense state, removing my hands from the sides of my body and tentatively touching the halo of rope hovering in the air around my body. It bends a bit at my contact, and I quickly retract my hand and stare at it floating in the air with the tiny dent I've just made in it. Still moving cautiously, I bend my knees and sink downwards, towards the road, and watch the rope as I descend. It stays exactly where it is, passing my neck, and my forehead, and then the top of my hair as I stoop downwards. It's actually kind of unsettling.

I move to the left and stand up again, feeling unnaturally restricted for no reason in particular. The air feels heavy, as if it's blocking my movements. The petrified world is completely silent, leaving a ringing noise in my ears. The circle of rope that was just about to wrap around my body now floats in the air in front of me, about two feet off the ground, completely still, tightened around a column of air.

A new found feeling of excitement wells up deep in my stomach somewhere, and goofy grin pastes itself onto my face. Two minutes. I get to experience the world like this for two minutes.

I turn around and observe the four people frozen in time behind me. Yamamoto has a hand outstretched and one foot barely lifted off the ground. His mouth is open, and his hair has been frozen in the process of blowing in the wind... all in all, my sarcastic subconscious deems that he would make a great statue.

Gokudera _still_ has a scowl plastered to his face despite the fact that someone was about to get _kidnapped_. He was probably happy that it was me. Haru has her hands clasped together under her chin, and Tsuna has his typical "WHAT IN THE WORLD" expression on. I snicker.

Abruptly, I become very aware that I've probably just wasted a minute staring at frozen people.

Let's see... I guess it wouldn't hurt to help Dino a bit with his family test. I decisively stalk over to Tsuna and pause for a moment, considering how to pick him up. I scowl momentarily as I think of how Dino possibly managed to rope the wrong person. The whole entire test is pointless if the _boss_ doesn't get captured, right?

Tsuna's knees are a bit bent, as if he's braced for something, and he's staring at the now empty loop of rope floating in the air about five feet away from him. Apologizing mentally, I circle around him and pick him up, nearly falling over backwards at how unexpectedly light he is. This boy needs to put on some muscle.

I keep my arms wrapped around him as I haul him over the the rope. His knees are still bent, which is kind of awkward. I settle him down by the floating loop of rope and take hold of the lasso next, gently gliding it through the air, up over Tsuna's head, and then down over his body. Then I pat his hair, feeling extremely guilty.

I step back and observe my work. Tsuna is contained within the loop of rope, bracing himself for who-knows-what and sporting the classic panicky expression. Perfect.

As I grin and mentally apologize to Tsuna, the air suddenly shimmers, and shortly after, the feeling of heaviness it possessed dissipates, leaving a clean feeling in my chest. A crisp wave of lightness washes over me, and a pulling sensation engulfs my body. Out of the corner of my eye, I see movement.

I turn and observe Yamamoto, whose outstretched hand is now starting to move downwards at a painstakingly slow rate. His raised foot is also slowly starting to step forward and meet the ground, and I realize with a start that for now, he's the only one moving. His reaction times are just that fast.

My sarcastic subconscious abruptly comes up with the brilliant idea to pull Gokudera's pants down. To everyone, it'll seem as if his pants are on one moment, and then off the next. The prank is a bit too cruel and immature for even my sarcastic subconscious, though, so I tell her to go back to sleep. What's the point of doing something like that anyways? Gokudera already seems to distrust me enough already.

Slowly, the world becomes animated again. As people and things begin moving a bit faster, and then a bit faster, I turn my attention towards Tsuna again.

The rope has tightened itself around his torso now, and I nearly burst out laughing, watching his mouth open wider and wider as he screams "HIE!" in slow motion. He is indeed very cute...

The world is moving at about half its normal rate now, and Tsuna's body begins bending as Dino's sports car moves forward and tugs on the rope.

A popping sensation causes my eyes to widen momentarily, and then time bursts back into its normal speed when Tsuna is suddenly jerked forward by the rope, and he's flying. Literally. He's flapping in the air like a flag, attached by a string to the car that's pulling him ahead at a ridiculous speed.

His "HIEEEeee..." fades away as the car zooms off into the distance, and Haru's scream, full of despair for her love, follows.

"TSUNA!"

"JYUUDAIME!"

Yamamoto and Gokudera simultaneously call out their personal versions of their friend's name.

"Tsuna..." I call out weakly, feigning despair. It's hard to actually be concerned for him when I know he's safe in Dino's car. I'm more sorry for him rather than worried... flying through the air via rope does not look fun. I have another short spell of guilt as I recall placing him in the ring of rope.

Personally, I'm a bit surprised that no one noticed that it was Tsuna who was roped instead of me. I try and think of how it must have looked to them. One moment, the rope is descending over my head, but when it reaches my chest... suddenly, Tsuna is one one caught in the rope, and I'm safely standing a foot away from it.

My only explanation is that everything was happening so fast that no one really paid attention to who was getting roped at first. And neither I nor Tsuna moved that far, so no one looked like they were disappearing. My pragmatic subconscious wipes some sweat off her eyebrow. Whew.

Yamamoto and Gokudera bolt forward in pursuit of the car that's already pretty far away from us, and Haru and I stand rooted the ground, Haru because she's confused, and I because... well, because I'm confused. Yamamoto and Gokudera can most definitely handle themselves with any yakuza, so perhaps I should stay and make sure that Tsuna is really all right.

Yamamoto seems to have different intentions, though, as he pauses right before he breaks into a full run and shoots me a look. A look that says "You're-coming-with-me-no-exceptions." I blanch.

"Matte!" a squeaky voice calls out from behind us, effectively halting Yamamoto and Gokudera - and saving me momentarily. I start thinking fast. I could tell Yamamoto and Gokudera that Tsuna is actually safe after we're a reasonable distance from Reborn... but then Reborn would murder me. He still needs to test out those bullets that blow up Tsuna's fists by a ridiculous amount. I hastily fish up a Plan B and turn towards Haru, who is still utterly shocked and confused at what in the hell is happening.

"Haru!" I whisper. "I need to borrow your cellphone."

She nods mutely and slips a phone out of an outer pocket on her schoolbag, somewhat distracted by Reborn, who's talking about cars, and yakuza, and the Momkyokai, and Dino and his subordinates.

Yamamoto and Gokudera look back with curious and impatient expressions at Reborn as he speaks.

"R-Reborn-san!" Gokudera says, probably contemplating how in the world the baby hitman manages to randomly show up anywhere he wants to. Haru shrieks a bit and begins a futile search of her schoolbag for her cellphone, apparently forgetting that she _just_ gave it to me in her panic.

I furiously start mashing keys on Haru's cellphone, opening the Internet and pulling up Google - the English version. Luckily, Japanese kanji require the English alphabet to be typed, so I can read the keyboard. I quickly type in a few keywords - "Namimori Japan yakuza Momokyokai headquarters - and a Google Maps search result for Namimori, Japan pops up.

Wow. What kind of yakuza puts their address on Google Maps? Then again, the Momokyokai aren't really that subtle... if I remember correctly, they painted their name across the building they inhabit in big, bold characters.

"You're no match for them," Reborn says matter-of-factly to Yamamoto and Gokudera, concluding his speech. "Leave it to Dino and his subordinates."

Determination flashes in Gokudera and Yamamoto's eyes.

"We can't let him take care of it," Gokudera says firmly, thinking only about Tsuna.

"That's right!" Yamamoto says with vigor as he grips my arm once again. "We'll leave the rest to you!"

I realize at the last moment that I need to return Haru's cellphone, but it's too late. Yamamoto is dragging me down the road at an alarming speed, following Gokudera, who's unexpectedly fast for someone who doesn't play a sport. I barely prevent myself from tripping every two seconds as I attempt to run at their speed.

After what seems like a lifetime of running, Gokudera pauses. Yamamoto stops with him, and I note with some surprise that we've already reached the "downtown" section of Namimori, away from the neighborhoods.

"Arre?" Yamamoto says. His breathing hasn't changed a bit even though he's practically ran a marathon.

An awkward silence ensues between the three of us as a gust of wind randomly blows through the air.

"...Where's the Momokyokai?" Yamamoto asks, a bit of concern laced in his voice. Gokudera deadpans, putting on a poker face.

I sigh.

"Next time..." I say, catching their attention, "be a little more calm about the situation."

That was the one thing Dino said he didn't like about them, right? They weren't calm.

"Think before you act." I toss him the cellphone, and he reads the screen with surprise. A grin lights up his face , and he looks at me with appreciation. "Thanks, Ana," he says with relief, and quickly shows the cell phone to Gokudera, who just 'tsk's at me. Better than a scowl, at least.

Yamamoto hands me back the cellphone, and almost immediately, we're running again, heading in the direction of the Momokyokai. I sneak a peek at the cell phone screen as I half-run-half-trip behind Yamamoto, who still has me in his grasp. The time in the top left of the corner of the screen reads 9:02. Half an hour late for school.

I sigh with exasperation, even as I'm dragged across downtown Namimori towards the Momokyokai headquarters. The day hasn't even begun yet, and I'm already exhausted.

I must have asked myself this question a million times already, but... will life in this world always be so hectic and exciting?

* * *

_The chapter's done for now, and I'm exhausted. It's probably riddled with loose ends and mistakes, so please, notify me about them and I'll fix the problem as efficiently as I can. (;_;) I apologize for any confusion I've entailed._

_The next chapter will explain a lot about how Ana fits in with the Japanese culture and also reveal a bit of her past... it might be a period of time before I release it though, since this chapter was so long and I'm pretty busy._

_Thank you so much again to everyone who has read, favorited, reviewed, followed, etc. It means the world to me. (^_^)_


	8. Akito the Aura Reader and Ana's Past

_Disclaimer: I don't own Katkeyo Hitman Reborn!_

_Hello again! You've probably noticed that, as I somewhat predicted, time periods between chapter releases are getting longer and longer. (TT_TT) I do indeed have a lot to do, so I apologize if writing this fanfiction is put on hold on some days._

_This chapter is relatively short, and I apologize if it feels like I'm skipping around a lot, or butchering the chronological order. Please enjoy!_

* * *

Hi there~! My name is Akito.

Why, you ask, has this story switched to the first-person point-of-view of a totally random person?

That's because sometimes, certain concepts are only noticeable when pointed out by someone who's not involved with the characters being observed. That and also because I, Akito, am so awesome that I know everything and would be doing you a wrong by not telling you certain information. Joking.

In all reality though, there are some things I've noticed lately that I wondered about at first. Mostly about Yamamoto Takeshi, popular idol and baseball player extraordinaire of Namimori Junior High.

I like to consider myself the second best player on the Namimori Junior High baseball team. At one time, I nearly even caught up to Yamamoto while doing laps, but he just pulled ahead with ease, grinning that trademark grin of his.

I also like to consider myself Yamamoto's friend, but I think lately, we've been replaced. I'm not complaining, though. I'm actually happy for the dude. We the baseball team are his really good friends, but sometimes I felt like that it was only through baseball. I think now he's found true friends, and I'm happy for him. No one can replace us as his second best group of friends, anyways. Ha.

So, now on to what I've been noticing with my keen eyes.

It started when most of the baseball team noticed that Yamamoto was hanging out with us less often. In order to root out the cause of this heinous problem, we, the passionate baseball team, whipped out our magnifying glasses and prepared for a day of stalking. It didn't really take much brain power to find the cause though. Yamamoto has been staying after school with that Sawada kid, who always (I'm not kidding, always) gets into trouble.

Most of the baseball team accepted this as a logical cause. I mean, most of us are nice people, so we're glad that Yamamoto has discovered new friends while also keeping us, like I've said before. After all, Yamamoto's performance skyrockets when friends like Sawada are cheering in the stands.

But... I say "friends" with an "s" because Sawada isn't the only one. Almost right after Yamamoto became buddies with Sawada, he brings a girl to school. Anastasia White. Automatically recognizable as a foreigner, and joined by the hip to the baseball star since day one. You should have seen the desolate looks on his fangirls' faces.

Everybody in the grade is super curious as to how Yamamoto met this cute (if I do say so myself) foreigner, and a tenacious little detective like me is even more curious than the rest. So I start digging... and I find pretty much nothing. Yamamoto has filed away the information he has on Anastasia White. I did, however, get that Anastasia-chan is living at Yamamoto's sushi shop. Yamamoto says that's because Anastasia-chan is his sister, but that's such an obvious lie that I didn't want to point it out to him. Yamamoto is a bit dense sometimes.

It seemed as if I had reached a dead end... but I wanted to do just a little bit more research. Starting with the baseball team and then branching out to the entire grade, I started my class-wide interrogation of the student body to fish out information on the relationship between Anastasia-chan and Yamamoto. Somewhere in the process, his fangirls decided to start leeching off of my information, anxious as to whether or not a romance with Yamamoto was still possible.

Most of the girls were just surprised at how attached Yamamoto has become to Anastasia-chan in literally less than a day. The question on their minds is: Why her? He's never really shown an interest in girls before, mostly because he's too dense to realize that they have feelings for him (don't tell him I said that), but also because he's just too carefree. The fact that his mother passed away when he was little might have a bit to do with his avoidance of a relationship as well... but I think he's accepted his mother's death already and put it in the past.

So with these questions and points in my and the fangirls' minds, I continued my class-wide interrogation, which resulted in a couple of shocking bits of information. The first bit happened on the first day Anastasia-chan enrolled in Namimori Junior High. That morning, someone spotted Yamamoto going to school with her _with his arm around her shoulder_. The amount of blood that came from his fangirls' noses when I revealed this information was ridiculous.

That's not all though. Both students and faculty alike have seen Yamamoto dragging Anastasia across campus. As in, hand-in-hand. Okay, it's not exactly hand-in-hand since Yamamoto is dragging Anastasia by the wrist, but you get the point. Half of the fangirls who hadn't died from nosebleeds at this point fainted from jealousy and rage when they heard that.

And for the grand finale, Yamamoto has been spotted doing something with Anastasia that no boy in Namimori Junior High has ever done to a girl before. He _carries_ her. And it's not a lovey-dovey bridal-style carrying. It's a let's-sling-her-over-my-shoulder-like-a-sack-of-flour type of carrying. The baseball team barely had the strength to prevent a fangirl riot when I revealed that last bit of information.

Why, you ask, are we students reacting this way to the fact that Yamamoto is touchy-feely? Isn't it a little too EXTREME (kudos to Sasagawa-senpai)?

No, actually, it isn't.

First of all, Anastasia-chan is a girl. If Yamamoto had been carrying Sawada, the fangirls would have probably squealed from the moe and encouraged him to do it more in order to show off how buff he is by carrying a human. But to carry Anastasia-chan... even in Western societies, carrying someone of the opposite gender isn't something you see every day. Here in Japan, it's even more unconventional...

Allow me to explain to you Westerners who are reading my testimony. I, Akito, will bestow my limitless knowledge upon you.

Here in Japan, we glorify the characteristics of a group. Western societies promote individualism, but we Japanese tend to encourage being a part of a larger body and blending in. Standing out is usually discouraged, which leads to extreme actions being discouraged. We say "I like you" here more often than "I love you," hugging is a sign of strong affection and not of friendship, girls don't constantly embrace each other like they do in Western societies... and so on and so forth. Basically, being someone like Sasgawa Ryohei-senpai is bad. As a result, touching other people in affectionate ways is uncustomary, unless you really are in a relationship with the other person. And even then... it's not common.

Most of the people in our class have made a small exception for Yamamoto. His hands just have a way of making contact with other people all of the time, whether it be patting a person on the back, slinging an arm around a shoulder, ruffling someone's hair... you get the point. So the fact that Yamamoto constantly has an arm around Sawada isn't really surprising to most of us students. Really, only the yaoi club reads into that too much.

It is surprising, however, and actually pretty startling, that Yamamoto handles Anastasia-chan is if she were a bean bag. I know that Japan is a strongly patriarchal society and all, but still, treating any woman that way is kind of... rough (heck, treating a man that way would be pretty rough)... and for fangirls, it's just unacceptable. Just unacceptable, I tell you. Class 1-A's fangirls already believe that Anastasia-chan's "foreign influence" has rubbed off on Yamamoto, and that's why he's so open with her. Their answer to the question of "Why her?" then, is because her evil foreign aura has corrupted Yamamoto.

As Yamamoto's second-best group of friends, though, most of the baseball team knows that isn't the case. First of all, it seems as if Anastasia-chan doesn't really enjoy being hauled around by Yamamoto anywhere. And really, who would enjoy residing on the shoulder of a sweaty baseball player all of the time? Secondly, Yamamoto seems to be the one who approached Anastasia-chan. Not the other way around.

So with the fangirls somewhat satisfied with their answer of "Anastasia-chan is evil" and the baseball team barely holding off the fangirl riots for the sake of our friend Yamamoto, I set off on yet another detective expedition to discover the true answer to the the question "Why her?"

Because if Yamamoto was _truly_ bothering Anastasia-chan, I have a feeling they would have stopped hanging out a long time ago.

I came to a realization at the end of my expedition. To explain that realization to you, though, I'll have to start from the beginning.

Saturday: a time when students sleep in, have fun, live their lives, and do everything else constituting the typical life of a teenager. Not for someone like Yamamoto Takeshi, though. Saturdays are baseball practice galore.

The most recent Saturday was a bit different. Practice was canceled on account of a family emergency of the coach, but I decided to drop by the school anyways to pick up my baseball equipment. I was somewhat surprised to see that Yamamoto was already there, earlier than usual. Perhaps he didn't get the memo about the cancellation. Anyways, he wasn't really suspicious of the fact that no one had showed up, since even if there had been practice, both him and I would have arrived early. As he spotted me, he quickly waved and told me he was going to skip practice with a grin on his face.

I nodded happily, but on the inside, I was smiling slyly. We didn't have practice that day, but he was prepared to skip anyways. It was the perfect chance for me to discover what he was up to, because he doesn't skip baseball practice for just anything.

Turns out he was just taking Anastasia-chan to the park. He didn't even drag her there. She looked half asleep in her sweatpants and T-shirt as she followed him from the sushi shop (this is when I confirmed that they are indeed living together), and I have a feeling that she was too tired to deal with his incessant energy. As I stalked... *cough* I mean, kindly followed them, I expected to pick up a feeling of tiredness from Anastasia-chan, or even annoyance. That is, after all, how she appears when Yamamoto yanks her everywhere.

The first step to my realization clicked when I noticed that she actually didn't seem annoyed at all. Her conversation with Yamamoto was bitter and sarcastic... but the aura the two gave off together was almost the opposite. Almost like... mutual understanding. It made me want to pull out my pocket handkerchief and dab my eyes (sarcasm, guys).

As I sped from hiding spot pole to hiding spot, I noticed that Yamamoto was asking something, and Anastasia-chan kept rejecting it. Yamamoto just laughed though. I could almost hear him saying, "Maa, maa... it'll be fun!"

When Anastasia smiled and finally seem to give in, they took a turn towards the center of the park. The baseball field.

Raising my eyebrow, I whipped out my feather quill, scribbled a few observations in my journal (not really, guys) and followed them (but this part is true). My suspicions were confirmed when Yamamoto handed Anastasia-chan one of the park's baseball bats and picked up a ball. He had asked her to play baseball with him.

The next part happens so fast that I can't really remember most of it. Before I know it, Yamamoto is hurling ball after ball after ball after ball at Anastasia-chan, and she's swinging the bat with a ferocity of a lion. I already knew that Yamamoto was extremely athletic, but I had only heard rumors of how athletic Anastasia-chan was. She looks so... _cool_...

Around the 40th pitch or so, a sharp CRACK echoes across the field, and Yamamoto deadpans. I deadpan as well, because a baseball comes flying into the bushes in which I'm hiding in seconds later, nearly causing me to wet my pants.

Anastasia-chan has just hit the ball. Anastasia White has just hit one of Yamamoto Takeshi's pitches before the 100th try. This is unprecedented.

Yamamoto stares at her, and she stares back. Then, Yamamoto lets out one of his trademark laughs, and Anastasia-chan _smiles_. A big, genuine smile. It's the first time I've seen Anastasia-chan honestly smile, and this is when the second chunk of my realization clicks.

Anastasia-chan doesn't smile for long, though. She doesn't have nearly as much endurance as Yamamoto, and with how tired she was already and Yamamoto's intense pitching speed, what happens next is actually somewhat expected. She faints.

Yamamoto stops laughing and tenses the moment her bat drops. "Ana?" he calls out tentatively.

She seems to sway for a moment, and then her eyes close, and her knees collapse. Even as she falls forward for faceplant impact (ouch...), Yamamoto dashes across the field, almost too fast for me to see, and catches Anastasia-chan gently. Anastasia-chan cracks open her eyes (fast recovery...) and blinks twice. I watch from behind my bush, not wanting to reveal my presence.

"That was close!" Yamamoto says, totally unaffected by his little dash across the field. "Haha, Ana, don't scare me like that!"

His good-natured response wasn't what I found strange. It was the fact that a light pink coating dusted his cheeks.

Yamamoto never gets embarrassed. Never. He's one of those types of guys who will laugh anything off without a second thought. "Oops!" he would say with a laugh. "Sorry, sorry, that's my bad!" and the matter would be settled. No humiliation needed. I heard he was going to come to school half naked for pajama day, which totally makes sense. He's not the type of person to care about other people's judgments.

So you can imagine my amazement at the coloring of his cheeks that day. Anastasia-chan quickly jumped out of his grasp and apologized profusely, declaring something along the lines of getting proper rest and training herself more.

I know what you're thinking. "Yamamoto blushed! That _must_ mean he's in love!" The big "realization" I'm going to announce to you, though, isn't that Yamamoto is head-over-heels in love with Anastasia-chan - for now.

First of all, believe me when I say most guys would have blushed if a *cough* cute girl like Anastaisia-chan fell into their arms. Most likely not an oblivious person Yamamoto, but the fact that he did clicked the third chunk of the realization in my head.

Yamamoto wasn't embarrassed because he has feelings for Anastasia-chan. His type of embarrassment was more like the concerned, friendly type.

As the two settled down again and walked off of the field, Yamamoto slung his arm around Anastasia-chan's shoulder. It's hard to explain, but I can tell that what they have isn't love. The way Yamamoto slings Anastasia-chan over his shoulder and the way Anastasia-chan can yell sarcastic comments at Yamamoto clearly destroys the sparkly aura of love that would normally be between a boy an girl. Their aura is more like the one between Yamamoto and Sawada... that of an indestructible friendship.

Yes, that's my realization. Anastasia-chan is Yamamoto's friend. Perhaps it will become more than that... the blush on Yamamoto's cheeks certainly indicated so... but for now, it's truly an inseparable friendship. The answer to the question "Why her?" then, is: "Just because."

Friends become friends only because of the way they are. If Anastasia-chan has become a true friend to Yamamoto... then so be it. It's not just-one sided either. I thought before that Yamamoto annoys Anastasia-chan when he tosses her over his shoulder, but I think now that she probably doesn't care. Perhaps it's even a little... fun... for her.

My realization may seem kind of obvious, but sometimes, it's hardest to see the things that are right in front of you. Perhaps this is the way Yamamoto normally acts around people that he's truly compatible with. I have a feeling that he's never actually had a true friend before Sawada and then Anastasia-chan. And if that's the case, there's nothing anyone else can do about it.

Anastasia-chan is compatible with Yamamoto. That's just a fact, no matter the reasons behind it.

And I, Akito, am inclined to help my buddy Yamamoto keep this fact intact and preserve his friendships. Mostly by preventing fangirls from ruining Anastasia-chan's life and accepting the fact that Yamamoto can treat Anastasia like a sack of flour.

I said before that it was obvious that Anastasia-chan wasn't Yamamoto's sister... but with the way they act with each other, it certainly feels like they could be siblings.

My time in this chapter is now drawing to an end. I know most of you are sad to see my awesome self leave (the rest are probably annoyed that another OC has been introduced), but never fear, perhaps I'll wedge my way back into this story someday. For now, I'm satisfied knowing that I've enlightened you with my realization.

The thing is, I don't think Anastasia-chan realizes it herself. Whatever the reasons (perhaps she was a loner in her home country?), there's a certain barrier around her. It's as if she acknowledges that no one will ever become her best friend. I'm sure she sees Yamamoto as just a companion for now, which really frustrates me for some reason.

But as a member of Yamamoto's second-best group of friends, I'm not going to interfere with their relationship. It'll be exciting to watch how everything unfolds, anyways. I hope Anastasia-chan realizes someday though... I doubt she could be truly happy if she didn't.

* * *

"Come on, Anastasia," I think to myself as I drag myself to the school entrance. "Stay awake." What has it been... two weeks? According to what Aegis told me, that's the minimum amount of time required to regain my normal energy. And I'm still tired. At least it's not all of the time now. There's usually a strong sleeping spell around 16:00-17:00, but for the majority of the rest of the day, I'm starting to feel normal.

School on the day after Dino's little family test is normal... ish. Nothing is every completely normal with the characters of KHR around. One thing I've noticed lately is this feeling that most of the girls of class 1-A hate me... though I'm not exactly sure why.

At least dealing with Dino after school yesterday wasn't as hard as I expected. Seeing as Yamamoto was adamant on making sure that I didn't leave his sight, it's not like I had a choice on whether to go to Tsuna's house anyways. Personally, I think going to Tsuna's house would be fun... if it wasn't for the fact that something awkward happens to me every time I'm there.

I mostly sat around awkwardly while Dino praised Tsuna about the competency of his family and shot me looks every once in a while. He probably wanted to have a one-on-one with me about how I knew I would see him today... but I'm super evasive, and without his subordinates, he's super clumsy, leading to a successful avoidance of a deep conversation between us. At least he knows that I'm associated with Tsuna's family now.

And then there was the whole issue of Reborn's little Enzo trick... luckily, I safely snuck my way into the kitchen with Nana before the giant turtle burst out of the bathroom and trampled everyone out of the house. I'm not sure how Tsuna plans to handle the property damages... and the town damages, for that matter.

"Anastasia-chan?"

Someone hesitantly calls out my name from behind me as I take out my shoes from the school locker, breaking me out of my thoughts of yesterday. I tense up, preparing to be dragged out of the school if it's Yamamoto, but the voice isn't recognizable as his, so I relax a bit. I drop my shoes on the floor and turn around, and my breath catches. The boy standing in front of me is the cutest little thing I've ever seen.

Though I am a girl, I don't mean cute as in attractive. I mean cute as in kawaii. Like, _cute_ cute. He's a bit on the short side, but his posture is straight, and he seems to be more confident now that I'm facing him. His long hair is naturally a light blue and lays back in large spikes that are combed back across his head but still stick up a bit. (Yes, I've learned that this dimension hosts some crazy natural hair colors.) A couple spikes of hair are pointing down because they're caught under a bandanna tied around his forehead. One of these spikes of hair covers his left eye. From his other eye, I gather that his huge pupils are a deep shade of ocean blue. His skin is deeply tanned; perhaps he plays a sport? A white V-neck shirt hangs on his shoulders, paired with dark jeans.

He smiles a small little smile, and I really, really, really want to squeal, or hug him. He's _so_ cute! The phrase "asdfghjkl" would apply to this situation.

"My name is Akito," he says positively, and I smile at him, genuinely. Did I mention that he was cute?

"You're really cool!" he blurts out, and I deadpan. Huh? Do I have... fanboys? Oh hell no. Yamamoto is more than enough. But, perhaps, if they're all as _cute_ as Akito...

"Thanks!" I say, and beam at him. "You're really cute!"

I spend the next half-an-hour cleaning up his nosebleed.

* * *

_The past: about three weeks ago, Dimension 5628: Earth._

=X=

I wake up to the sound of an iPod alarm. One that sounds like the mechanical blaring noise that usually signifies that something is terribly wrong and that a system has malfunctioned. Ugh. I roll around in my bed and feel underneath my pillow for my iPod, instinctively unlocking it and shutting off the alarm when I grasp it. I lift my head wearily and blink my eyes, trying to clear my vision. Friday? Which means... school. Ugh.

Let me properly introduce myself. My name is Anastasia White. I'm fourteen years old and a student at the Weaver School of Academics and Arts. I'm sarcastic and obstinate. I like food and breathing. I dislike nothing unless I dislike it. Pleased to meet you.

I roll out of my dorm bed and peer at my desk. Empty bags of Sun Chips are scattered among deflated juice boxes and sheets of homework. Somewhere in that pile is my laptop... I wearily feel around my desk for the computer and hoist it up when I do. As I pull up my Google Calendar, I disconnect the laptop from its wire and step over to my dorm room door, peering at the piece of paper pasted on it's back.

Quickly, I scan the schedule (because that's what it is) for Friday, and identify my classes. You'd think I'd be able to memorize them by now, but our boarding school follows a college schedule; that is, different classes depending on what day of the week it is, and this early in the morning, my mind isn't exactly too sharp.

First Trimester Class Schedule - Friday

1. Honors Algebra II with Advanced Topics I, Room 208  
2. Introduction to Chemistry with Advanced Topics I, Room 254  
3. Honors World History, Room 111  
4. Advanced Intensive Problem Solving, Room 212  
5. Varsity Sports, Gym  
6. Honors Music Theory and Composition, Room 303

Ugh... why can't it be a Thursday? Then period four would be Environmental Science, and period six would be English Literature. I'm not really up for the intensity of Intensive Problem Solving (go figure) today...

Why, you ask, does my schedule look like that of an Asian high school student? That's because Weaver is a school for the academically, artistically, and athletically gifted. I wouldn't exactly say that I'm any of the three, but every school needs some well-rounded filler girls, since they can otherwise get sued for gender discrimination.

Both my dad (who forced me to apply) and I (who halfheartedly applied) nearly choked to death when we received the letter of my acceptance into the school.

I swing my attention to my Google Calendar. No major assignments do today. There's something set for tomorrow though. Saturday, 11:00 - Eat lunch with dad at Macaroni Grill. Huh. Almost forgot.

Boarding school is nice because I'm able to return home on weekends if I feel like it. I can sign out on weekdays as well, as long as I'm back on campus by the time the hall monitors come to check the rooms. Getting away is nice sometimes, and it looks like dad is picking me up tomorrow at 11:00 so we can eat lunch and just spend time together.

Slowly, I make my way back to the desk, avoiding clothes and books on the floor as I do. Sometimes, having a single-room (that is, without a roommate) is beneficial. It means I don't have to clean up as often.

I power down the computer and step over to the dresser leaning on the wall across from the bed, blindly grabbing the toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, and soap resting on top of it. Then I open the second drawer and randomly pull out a skirt and a T-shirt. Normally, I'd wear jeans, but I'm in the mood for something a little more airy and less constricted.

I swoop down and retrieve a towel from the floor before swinging open the dorm room door and stepping out into the plain white hallway in my pajamas - a plain white T-shirt and light, silky shorts. No one is up this early at 6:00 AM, but I like waking up before the rest because it guarantees that I'll have a showering spot in the hall's public bathroom. I feel super awkward when there are other people in the bathroom at the same time as me, anyways.

"Hey, Anastasia," I girl I've probably seen before says to me as we pass each other in the hallways. A sports bag is slung over her shoulder. Perhaps she's exercising early in the morning?

"Hey," I respond, and we both continue on our ways.

That's pretty much my relationship with everyone at this school. I like to consider myself as... wallpaper. I'm totally fine with that, I guess. No one's ever took the initiative to really have a conversation with me, but everyone's interacted with me one or two times. Personally, I think there are some benefits to my wallpaper status. Nobody at this school really loves me, but nobody hates me either. I'm an acquaintance to everybody.

People will greet me in the hallways when they feel like it, or approach me for math help in class, but our conversations never extend beyond small talk and fake smiles. It's okay, though. I don't feel lonely or anything... most of the time.

I shuffle over to the row of sinks in the bathroom and halfheartedly brush my teeth. Then I approach one of the showers and sling my towel over one of the walls separating the stalls. As I step into the shower with the soap and shampoo and swish the stall's curtain closed, I try and think of if I've ever really had any true friends in school. The shower is a perfect place to just think, with the warm water rushing down my back and the droning sound of liquid hitting the tile floors ringing in my ears.

There was that one girl in sixth grade... but she was more like a project partner. There was also that stalker boy... ugh. I shudder as I remember that one.

So no. I guess I haven't really had any friends. With a sarcastic personality like mine, though, it's to be expected. My sarcasm is funny enough to round up some acquaintances, but it becomes a nuisance if your relationship with me develops too far.

As I stand alone in the shower, humming the latest Katy Perry, a feeling of loneliness wells up inside my stomach. It's okay though. This has happened before. If I just ignore this feeling and think of happy thoughts, it will go away eventually.

"But..." I wonder in my head. "Will it always be this way?"

Perhaps experiencing a true friendship is actually something that I want. Perhaps it's something that everyone fundamentally needs. Humans are social creatures, after all. What about my personality, though? People will be sure to reject it if they're around me too often. And I can't stand the thought of being shunned more than I already am right now.

I shake my head. What am I thinking? Think happy thoughts. Think rainbows. Think unicorns! Think classes... ugh. Intensive Problem Solving...

I sigh. I need a makeover or something. I need an epiphany. I need one of those life-changing events that only occur in movies. I wish life wasn't so painful yet boring...

I switch off the water and wrap the towel around my body.

Who knows? Perhaps my wish will come true soon.

* * *

_Thanks again so much to everyone that reviewed. Your reviews give me motivation and allow me to keep the story running!_

_Here are all the wonderful people who have reviewed so far: **Aleiafae**, __**Autore Raita**, ****__Chuu112__,_ _**DerpyDes**_, _**Hayate the Soul Reaper**, **hello-totoro-ninja**, **KHRLover1997**, **Loving-you-is-a-crime**, **The Mouse Maestro**, **WinterGuardianAngel24**, __ **xxOMGgalxx**_, and **Ynnah**. Oh, and don't forget all of the Guests! (^_^)

_Thank you again, and also, sorry again! For anything. (;_;) Hopefully, I'll have another chapter out soon, and hopefully, it'll be more exciting!_


	9. A Day of Rain

_(^_^) I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn._

_Hello; chapter nine is finally ready. (TT_TT) I seriously am really busy; boarding school begins in two weeks for me and I'm preparing the materials for my dorm, so I sincerely apologize if it's taking a long time to write this story. Please realize that I usually only write when I have free time (I don't see writing this story as a chore or duty), and since I'm receiving less free time now, the story might start progressing a little slower. (._.)_

_Anyways, I also want to apologize if it seems as if a lot of my chapters are just fillers and not actually part of the story. (TT_TT) I'm a really spontaneous writer._

_Please enjoy!_

* * *

I wake up to the sound of rain.

The light pitter of tiny drops of water on the window is a welcome noise in my ears as my eyes gradually open. I stretch my arms, enjoying the feel of the soft sheets and their warmth.

I've always loved rain. Somehow, I feel relieved, eager, excited, every time I see grey storm clouds rolling in. Rain has an unspoken placating effect on me. Many times, I have stepped outside with an umbrella and wandered around, watching droplets of water slide down the umbrella's silky covering. Sometimes I don't bring an umbrella at all.

I roll around in the bed more, burying myself further in the warmth of the sheets as the rain drones on in the background.

Wearily, I poke my head out of my fortress of warmth for a moment to assess the time. 4:37 in the morning. Dull light filters in through the window as the sun struggles to shine its rays above the still too-high horizon and the layer of rain clouds. Why am I awake so early today?

I wrap myself in the sheets once more and close my eyes. Falling asleep to the sound of rain is one of my most favorite experiences ever.

Thoughts of Yamamoto suddenly come unbidden into my mind as I drift further into dreamland. I wonder if he's tired of me and my cruel personality...

I slip into a comfortable slumber and dream of blinding grins, raven black hair, hazel eyes, and incessant laughter.

* * *

The second time I wake up, it's sudden. My eyes shoot open, and my skin tingles... something feels wrong. I lie on my side, completely still, as I assess the room. The soothing sound of rain still echoes from the windows, and the room sits silently, giving nothing away.

I let out a breath. Perhaps it was my imagination?

"Morning, honey," a voice breathes darkly from behind me.

I immediately let out an ear-piercing scream and fly off the bed, tripping over the covers and face planting onto the floor.

The voice speaks again, frantically this time. "Shh! Be quiet! You're going to wake the others up with your overreacting!"

I jump up, instinctively wrapping the fallen bed sheets around me, and quickly turn around to face the man on the bed.

He sits there on the bed, legs crisscrossed, in jeans and a light blue T-shirt. A wave of recognition hits me as I stand there stuttering. Why does he look so familiar?

"Aegis...?" I venture incredulously, and his grin grows. I blanch. He looks so different... I realize with a start that his wings are gone. He looks younger, too, more playful... perhaps it's because he's sitting crisscross-applesauce on a bed instead of legs-crossed behind a desk. His mischievous, boyish grin, too, adds to his appearance of a child.

He open his mouth, but the sound of running footsteps in the hallway interrupts him, and a bit of panic flashes through his eyes. With a snap of his fingers, he's gone, invisible, and I'm left staring open-mouthed at the empty bed as the door of the guest room swings open.

"Ana!" Yamamoto yells, concern tinged in his voice.

I turn towards Yamamoto in the doorway, still wrapped in the bed sheets and somewhat in shock of what in the hell just happened.

"Ana..." Yamamoto says, approaching me, "are you okay?"

In a friendly manner, he tentatively drapes his arm around my shoulder that's wrapped underneath the bed sheets.

"I thought I heard you scream..."

I quickly respond, guilty for worrying him. "No, no, I'm fine..." I mutter, looking down. "There was just... a really annoying bug in the bed." I can't exactly tell him that I woke up to find a man - err, angel - in bed with me.

Yamamoto relaxes visibly, and I can feel his grin even though I'm still looking down.

"It's okay now, all right?" I say. "I'm sorry for making you worry." I look up at him and smile a bit in response to his grin. I snag a quick look at the clock. 5:16. "You can go back to bed now," I say, and then scowl. "And ever heard of knocking?"

He lets out one of his trademark laughs and actually winks at me. My sarcastic subconscious gags.

"Why would I have to knock on a door in my own house?"

I'm about to spit out an impressive list of reasons why, but he cuts me off. "In any case, I'm just glad you're okay."

I simply nod at him gratefully in return, and he grins again. I squint my eyes. Grins like his are way too bright for early morning times like these.

He drops his arm from my shoulder, and the skin on my back feels suddenly cool from the absence of the arm that was previously draped over it.

He walks over to the door, pulling it closed as he steps out of the room. He stops before he's out completely and looks back at me.

"See you in the morning," he says softly and cheerfully.

_Uh, you've already seen me this morning._

"See ya," I say in return, and my mouth twitches up briefly at just how odd and endearing of a person he is.

The door closes with a click, and the sound of rain against the windows fills the room again as his footsteps fade down the hallway.

"I don't appreciate that you called me an annoying bug," a voice says from the bed.

The voice surprises me for a moment, but then I compose myself and roll my eyes. I slowly turn my head over to the man sitting on the bed again. Aegis.

"Good morning to you too," I say, and snort at him. "I could sue you for sexual harassment."

He smirks back at me. "Who's stupid enough to sue an angel?" he says, and I splutter.

"I thought you said angels were nicer when they're not in dreams," I say exasperatedly.

"They are," he says matter-of-factly, and smirks again. "Am I not being nice?"

I sigh. This is getting nowhere.

"How are you here, anyways?" I ask, curious and a bit annoyed. "As in, not invading my dreams but actually here?" My subject-changing strategy is effective, and he responds nonchalantly.

"You've heard of angels disguising themselves as humans and visiting the world, right?" He arches an eyebrow. "That's pretty much as simple as it gets."

An unwelcome thought seems to enter his head, and he wrinkles his nose a bit. "Most of us don't disguise ourselves as poor people and beg for money to see who's a kind soul and who isn't, though. That's only a select few angels."

He rakes a hand through his messy blonde hair. "But humans seem to believe that all angels who come to earth are up for that little charade."

A snort escapes from my mouth. "I doubt that you, of all people, could decide who has a kind soul and who doesn't," I say as I process his information.

I cut him off before he can retaliate sarcastically.

"So?" I say. "To what do I owe the _pleasure_of this visit, if you haven't come to beg for money and gauge how nice I am?"

I ruffle the bed sheets around me and plop myself down on the bed. He feigns disgust at having to sit on the same bed with a creature like _me_, and I glare at him. "_You're_ the one who climbed into _my _bed," I say.

He shrugs, ignoring my comment. "Anyways," he says, "I'm here to discuss whatever you want. Unfortunately." He stresses the last word.

According to this," - he snaps and his iconic clipboard appears in his hands - "your mind is currently holding a lot of questions for me. Also according to this," - he flips a page - "your period of energy loss from dimension translation is over, _and_you've managed to use your time stopping skill."

He smirks at me. "I figured that a stupi- *cough* ... less-than-intelligent mind like yours would have a lot of questions, and as your unfortunate designated angel, I am here to answer those questions."

My fist twitches. He's gonna get a face-full of my punch someday.

I cooly compose myself and think while he sits on the bed and impatiently wiggles his feet. Actually, I did have some questions for him...

"About stopping time," I say, and he arches an eyebrow inquisitively. "If I traveled from 2012, how come I can't stop time for eight years?"

He shakes his head and rolls his eyes, as if the answer is extremely obvious.

"Because in your previous dimension right now, it's also 2004. Just two minutes behind. When you stop time, your body attempts to readjust itself to the time that it is _currently_in your previous dimension, not the time you traveled from."

Oh. I guess that makes sense.

"Besides," he says sarcastically, "what kind of person enjoys being frozen in time for eight years?"

I shoot him a dirty look and placate his smirk with another question that has wormed its way into my mind.

"So if it's 2004 there..." I say, referring to my previous dimension, "do I still exist?"

"Yes," Aegis says bluntly. "You're still alive in your previous dimension, doing what you were doing in 2004. The only important part is that you cease to exist in that dimension in 2012, since that's when you traveled here." He pauses a bit, trying to find the right words to say. "Your alter-ego in 2004 right now is not a duplicate of yourself. It _is _yourself. It's hard to explain to a human like you. All you need to know is that your self in your previous dimension right now doesn't matter. She is your past. This dimension is your present and future. Accordingly, she has nothing to do with this dimension."

"She will..." I mutter to myself. A spontaneous thought pops into my head, and my eyes light up.

"Wait..." I say, "does the world in my previous dimension actually end in 2012?" Because if it does, I'm pretty lucky to have a portal open on my head and suck me into another dimension.

Aegis gives me a "what the heck" expression. "No," he says. "Who actually believes that? And please, keep your questions about _yourself_. I'm not your personal fortune-teller."

"Fine, fine," I say with a smirk, causing his glower to intensify. We sit in silence, and I gently stroke my chin in the fashion of a wise philosopher to let him know that I'm thinking. Oh yes, there were some unanswered questions I had about the effect I have in this world...

"The author of the KHR books in my previous dimension can't see me, right?" I say. "So won't it be a bit suspicious to her that random objects in this world look like they're floating around when I'm actually carrying them?"

"I've told you this before," he says, scowling, "but Amano Akira is receiving images of this dimension in her head as they occur. To her, it's like the visions are ideas that her own mind is coming up with. And in a way, she _is_coming up with them."

He rubs his lips, considering what to say. Then he gives me a glance, and I can practically see a pair of invisible glasses descend onto his face. He's about to dive into some complicated explanation... I brace myself.

"It's not like she's constantly tapping into this dimension though. In fact," he says as he flips a page on his clipboard, "she looks into this dimension about once every two weeks, on average. In your world, that's the approximate time that passes between every progression of the plot - or every episode of the anime, if you would prefer - even though the period of time between the release of the actual chapter is usually only one week, since she receives images of the dimension prior to recording them down."

Say what?

My jaw hangs open a bit, but he ignores me and barrels on.

"Of course, this period of time between 'tappings' varies. During intense action and other situations, she may be able to see day after day, or even minute after minute, of this world." He flips a page on his pet clipboard and looks it over with a gaze. "An example would be in the future arc... nearly every moment of situations such as the infiltration of Melone base are visible to her."

"Wait wait wait," I say, feeling my brain start to overload. "So you're saying that she's only able to see certain things in this dimension at certain times." I talk cautiously, somewhat apprehensive of embarrassing myself in front of this angel genius.

He peers at me with an unreadable expression.

"Yes," he says after a moment. "In extremely simple terms, you're correct." He stresses the words "extremely simple." I choose to ignore his disapproval of my lack of sophistication.

"Ok..." I say, gathering my thoughts and attempting to mash them into something I understand, "then how exactly does this relate to my question about the effect of my presence in this world?"

He sighs, too wrapped up in his explanations to shoot me bitter comments.

"Similar to how she doesn't see every single thing in this dimension," he says, "many events are blacked out to her because of your presence. Situations that are physically impossible without you in them aren't visible to her."

He pauses.

"For example..." he flips to another page on his clipboard and scans it briefly. "Three days ago, during Dino's family test."

I wince at the memory. I still feel guilty about Tsuna...

"To Akira, you're invisible. Though you were initially the one being captured, all she would have seen is Tsuna getting roped... because roping you, someone who's not there to her, is physically impossible."

He arches an eyebrow at me and smirks. He probably knows that I'm completely lost... I'm going to wipe that smirk off his face someday.

"To her," Aegis continues, "objects you carry would indeed appear as if they are floating... but she doesn't see the objects during the times you carry them, because levitation is physically impossible without someone there, and to her, there's no one there - because you're invisible. During these times, the images she receives are either focused on other people - like Tsuna - or just unavailable to her in general."

He nods once in a scholarly fashion, as if approving of his own intelligence.

"This doesn't just apply to just _carrying_ objects, though. _Anything _you do that will look impossible to her will be unseen."

He looks at me matter-of-factly, as if that explanation was simple enough.

I stare at him a bit. _So... how exactly do I effect the KHR plot line?_

Aegis sighs. "You don't," he says, and smirks.

"I thought you didn't read minds."

"I don't."

"Stop reading my face."

"Stop being so readable."

I smolder, feeling like I'm about to burst into a ball of flames. This angel is a polar opposite representation of what angels are supposed to be like.

"In any case," he says, indifferently ignoring my murderous aura, "you can only affect the so-called 'plot' of this world indirectly."

I immediately sport an inquisitive expression. He shrugs.

"For example... if you hadn't stopped time during Dino's family test, then you would have been the one who was captured, and Akira would have been unable to see it. To her, then, Dino's family test would have failed instead of succeeded, and the so-called 'plot' would have been altered."

He sighs tiredly, and I can almost guess what he's about to say next.

"But I've told you. This world is just as real as the world you came from. That world didn't have a plot to you, right? So stop worrying about it."

"It's not that easy..." I mumble.

"It is what you make it," Aegis says in response, and for once, he's being sincere.

I gaze at him, unsure of what to say. He's so... spontaneous. I'm dying to punch him one moment, and then the next... he's comforting me.

"Don't get carried away with yourself," he says smugly. "I'm not comforting you."

I take everything I said back. "Stop reading my feelings already!" I say, and he smirks again.

"Very well," he says, surprising me. "It seems as if my work here is done, anyways; your questions have been answered. I believe you should be sleeping right now... there's not much I can do if _you're_ the one making yourself tired."

"_I'm_ not the one who woke myself up," I say, scowling, and he simply continues to smirk.

"Well," he says suddenly, and waves his clipboard in the air, "gotta go. Heaven calls."

How does he even know that from his clipboard?

"Really?" I say.

"No," he says. "I just can't stand being around you."

And before I can tackle him and choke his heavenly life away, he snaps his fingers, and my eyelids close as I fall back onto the bed.

* * *

It's still raining when I wake up for the third time today. I smile a bit, glad that it's still raining. I love rain.

Slowly, I rub my eyes, stretch, and glance at the clock. 7:53. A normal time to wake up.

Once I'm somewhat awake, I quickly scan the room - and bed - for any sexually harassing angels. All clear.

Yawning, I climb out of the bed and approach the dresser. Today's Saturday? Huh... what should I wear?

I engage in a staring contest with the dresser until I finally yank it open and tug out a T-shirt paired with shorts. Good enough.

Wearily, I step out into the hallway and shuffle towards the bathroom. Yamamoto's still sleeping, I assume. He should be up soon, though... there's usually baseball practice on weekends. I don't think there'll be practice with weather like this, though.

Inspiration hits me in the shower. Tsuyoshi said I could start helping out in the shop today, right? I grin.

Takesushi better prepare itself for one eager Anastasia White.

* * *

Tsuyoshi glares at me with a criticizing eye.

"Are you absolutely sure you have nothing to do today?"

I squirm in front of him, eager to end this interrogation.

"Yes," I say fixedly. "What could I possibly do anyways when it's raining so hard outside?"

He scrutinizes me for another moment while I sigh and fidget.

All I want to do is help around the sushi shop... it is a Saturday after all. Didn't he say I could volunteer starting today if I had nothing else to do? I guess he's having trouble believing that I have nothing else to do...

Something warm suddenly rubs across my back, and the smell of soap and sushi convinces me that it's Yamamoto, just now done with his shower. I didn't even hear him come downstairs.

He rests both of his elbows on each of my shoulders and nests his head in my hair, with his chin touching the top of my head. That's just how tall he is.

"Oh?" he says curiously while he perches on top of me. "What are you two talking about?"

"Takeshi!" Tsuyoshi says, directing his attention to his son. "You're up?"

"Yup!" Yamamoto says cheerfully. "I had a good sleep!" They grin at each other.

"You two!" I barge in. "Don't change the subject. I want to know if I can help out around the shop today or not."

I wiggle out of Yamamoto's embrace, feeling him pout as I do. He lowers his elbows, expression changing from disappointed to inquisitive.

"Arre?" Yamamoto asks curiously. "Ana's helping out around the shop?"

"Apparently," Tsuyoshi says with a grin, and winks at me.

I smile. Mission accomplished.

"Don't try and stop her," Tsuyoshi continues. "You'll be defeated."

Yamamoto mirrors his father's grin. "Why would I try and stop her?" he says. "It'll be more fun if she helps out!"

I squint. Having to deal with one Yamamoto grinning is blinding enough, but dealing with the entire family? I really do need sunglasses.

Tsuyoshi observes his son for a moment. "You're helping out too?"

Yamamoto shrugs. "I doubt that we'll have baseball practice when it's raining this hard."

Tsuyoshi nods in understanding, and then he sighs. "There's really no need for both of you to help," he says. "Business is slow when there's bad weather outside."

A muted rumble of thunder from outside agrees with him.

"Besides," he continues, "it's 8:30 in the morning. Come back during lunch hour."

I open my mouth and raise a finger... and then close it again, thinking.

Well... it's true that helping out now is pointless since there's no customers...

"But there's nothing else to do..." I say pointedly, and Tsuyoshi furrows his eyebrows at me.

"Yes there is," he says. "Your homework."

Whaaaaaaaat?

"And while you're at it, help Takeshi with his," Tsuyoshi says playfully, adding a request to his suggestion. "He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer."

"Dad..." Yamamoto says, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

I give up. Talking to these two at the same time is like trying to turn a truck onto a road in two-way traffic.

The three of us stand in awkward silence for a moment.

"All right," I say flatly, catching their attention. "I submit for now. BUT" - I point my finger at Yamamoto - "you better try and actually understand the math this time, AND" - I point back my finger at Tsuyoshi and narrow my eyes - "I'll be back at lunch."

The two peer at me in surprise. Then their faces stretch almost simultaneously into grins.

"Thanks, Ana!" they say, Tsuyoshi with a little less excitement than Yamamoto.

I step back, a little creeped out at their synchronization.

And for the love of sushi, someone really needs to buy me a pair of sunglasses.

* * *

Tsuyoshi was right. Business is slow on days with bad weather.

I sit at one of the bar stools, resting my elbow on the bar and supporting my head with my hand. The other hand idly twirls a chopstick around.

Helping around the shop is useless when there are no dishes to wash... and it's 12:30 already, too. No one even for lunch. I let out a sigh and return to listening to the sound of the rain pounding on the roof of Takesushi.

Tsuyoshi looks up from his constant polishing of knives from behind the bar and grins.

"Feeling gloomy?" he says.

I nod slowly, not bothering to lift my head out of my hand.

He chuckles. "Even if a customer did come now, your assistance wouldn't be needed. Handling one person is easy enough for me."

He's right...

"But there's nothing else to do..." I say for the second time today. It's true. Homework is done, friends are closed off from contact, customers are stranded at home... it's the first time I've truly had nothing to do in this world.

"Perhaps I'll teach myself how to play the piano..." I think to myself.

My sarcastic subconscious scoffs. "You're not going to teach yourself how to play the piano."

She's right, so I refrain from hissing at her. Does Takesushi even have a piano...? Obviously not.

I know! I'll ask Tsuyoshi how to wrap sushi!

My spirits fall when I realize that my poster-definition-of-average cooking skills would probably result in something inedible. I wonder how Yamamoto learned...? He probably just observed his father...

I wish Yamamato was awake. He somehow manages to make anything fun.

In compliance to Tsuyoshi's wishes, the two of us spent the whole morning finishing homework, and he fell asleep right after the last problem was solved. On my shoulder, nonetheless. Dragging someone as muscular (and therefore heavy) as Yamamoto into a bed is not fun, let me tell you.

Personally, I was a bit surprised that we finished _all_ of our homework in four hours. Yamamoto really isn't that dumb. It's just a matter of how much time he has. When he truly focuses, understanding a concept isn't a problem for him.

I smile bitterly to myself.

He's good at learning, but I need to work on his explanation skills, though... all he seems to know when describing something is hand gestures and onomatopoeias. "You put this 'x' in the 'y' like this and you just square them like that and boom! It's actually really simple!"

Yamamoto... how do you even put an "x" into a "y?"

He says it's just the way Tsuyoshi taught him.

I glance over at Tsuyoshi for a moment, who's chopping salmon for who-knows-what-reason. I guess I could see that... these two seem like interactive and visual learners, anyways: they have to do something to understand it.

"Ana!"

Tsuyoshi's exclamation automatically pops me out of my thoughts. I look over at him expectantly.

"I'm going to run to the convenience store for a bit. I don't think anyone's going to come to the shop, but could you stay for me?"

What? I want to go too... anything's better than slowly rotting away to the sound of rain.

"Why are you going now?" I say, concealing my desperation to go walk around with him. "Don't you have all your ingredients delivered to your door?"

"Yeah," he says, "but the next shipment of masago isn't due until next week, and we're almost out. I think we're out of milk, too."

Out of milk? The Yamamoto family? Impossible.

Tsuyoshi seems to know what I'm thinking, because he grins. "Takeshi drank it all."

Of course.

"Why now, though?" I question again. "It's raining pretty hard."

He shrugs. "I have an umbrella. Besides, it's better to shop for supplies when there are no customers at the shop. That way, we can focus on serving them when they're actually here."

Well... I guess that makes sense...

I suddenly come up with a brilliant idea. "How about I go shop for supplies, and you stay and watch the shop?"

He laughs. "Do you even know what masago is?"

My face falls. No, I don't.

He laughs again. "Don't worry. The rain will let up soon, and I'll get Takeshi to treat you to some baseball."

I pale. Yamamoto's version of baseball isn't baseball... it's survival. Not to mention that last time, after I played, I fainted...

I shake my head vigorously as I try to forget the unwelcome memory. It wasn't my fault. I was tired. It wasn't my fault. Anyone would have fainted. Forget. Forget. Forget. I smash my head on the bar a couple of times and compose myself.

"That's okay," I say to Tsuyoshi in response to his offer. "You've done way too much for me already."

I realize that I'm probably being annoying to him, instead of helpful, like I intended to be. The least I could to to return his kindness is watch over the shop while he's gone...

"All right," I say to him with newfound determination. "Leave it to me."

He grins. "Thanks, Ana. I'll only be half an hour or so. The convenience store is pretty far away."

He peels of his chef's clothes, and I'm left with a very normal civilian-like Tsuyoshi.

I gape. Tsuyoshi in normal clothes? Where's a camera when I need it?

He gives me a small wave as he steps out of the sushi shop and prepares to open his umbrella. "Thanks again, Ana."

I smile softly. "No problem."

* * *

And so, here I am, alone in the sushi shop for five minutes now, and it already feels like I've died from boredom. Watching grass grow would probably be more intriguing than sitting here and twirling this chopstick around.

An extremely loud crashing sound from the entrance of the shop startles me out of my fit of boredom, and I jump up just in time to see a soaked Tsuna trip into the shop, followed by a concerned (and also soaked) Gokudera.

"Juudaime! Are you all right, Juudaime?"

I quickly stride over to Tsuna, who looks exhausted. "Tsuna?"

He looks up at me, embarrassed that I've seen him so "uncool," and Gokudera throws a fit.

"Don't address the Tenth so casually, stupid woman!"

Stupid woman? What a sexist view.

I scowl deeply at Gokudera. He scowls back. I scowl more. He scowls more.

Tsuna hesitantly looks up at our pissing contest from the ground, afraid to interrupt and interjecting the occasional "Uhm..."

After a minute of scowling, Gokudera explodes.

"God, you annoy me!" he says, breaking out eye contact and throwing his hands up in the air.

I smirk at him. When a sarcastic personality meets an aggressive personality, sparks fly. Literally, if it weren't for the fact that Gokudera is hesitant to throw dynamite in front of the Tenth.

I realize that both of us have left Tsuna shivering and cold on the ground for more than a minute already, and the inner mother in my pragmatic subconscious wakes up while Gokudera yells at a wall about how annoying I am in the background.

I stoop down gently.

"Anastasia-chan?" Tsuna says hesitantly.

I sigh. "I told you to call me just Ana. Let's get you off the ground and dried. You're going to catch a cold."

I reach out my hand to help Tsuna up, only to have an angry Gokudera suddenly bark into my ear.

"Don't touch the Tenth, stupid woman! That's my job!"

Again with the stupid woman thing?

I stare at him, not really up for wasting more energy on another pissing contest.

"All right," I say, casually conceding defeat - for now. "I'll go get towels. You two help yourself to a table. If you came for lunch, I'm sorry to say that Tsuyoshi isn't here right now... he'll be back in half an hour."

I smile brightly at Tsuna, and, just because Tsuna's watching, manage a crooked smile towards Gokudera, who takes a step back in horror at my smile.

As I turn around and head towards the stairs, Gokudera mutters "stupid woman can't even cook" from behind me. Tsuna follows with a placating "Gokudera-kun..."

I just smirk. I can pants him anytime I want to with my time-stopping skill, anyways.

* * *

The two boys are seated at a table when I return with the towels. Both are still extremely wet, and Tsuna is shivering a bit.

Gokudera eyes me warily as I approach the table and step behind Tsuna's chair.

Gracefully, I drape the towel over his fluffy head of hair and begin rubbing gently, noticing Tsuna's light blush as I do.

Gokudera is furious.

"I'll kill you for touching the Tenth again! Stop embarrassing him!"

I swiftly turn my head and glare daggers at him as I nonchalantly keep drying Tsuna's hair. "You're overreacting," I say. That's the understatement of the century. "Have you even considered if Tsuna minds or not?"

Gokudera looks inquisitively and worriedly at the Tenth.

"I-I don't mind," Tsuna says reassuringly to Gokudera, and the bomber reluctantly relaxes in his chair a bit.

"If the Tenth says so..."

I roll my eyes. This boy has got to learn that the solar system revolves around the sun, not Tsuna.

"Where's Yamamoto?" Tsuna asks curiously as I finish drying his hair and drape the towel around his shoulders.

I pause for a moment.

"He's taking a nap," I say. At least, I could still hear him snoring when I went upstairs to get the towels.

Tsuna nods and looks at me gratefully for the towel.

I stare at the remaining towel in my hands, and then at Gokudera's head. Then I look back at the towel, and then at Gokudera's head. Then I look at Tsuna, who looks at me pleadingly. He really wants us to get along...

I sigh.

Mechanically, I trudge over to Gokudera's chair and toss the towel over his head, surprising him out of his little "brooding-over-the-Tenth" trance. Vigorously, I begin rubbing the towel across his surprisingly silky silver hair. Gokudera shoots up out of his chair and makes a couple strange noises.

Is he... blushing? Oh ho ho ho ho. Seems like I've found his weakness.

He snatches the towel out of my hands while I stare at him innocently and roughly sits back down in his chair.

"I can do it myself, stupid woman..." he mutters, and slings the towel over his head, drying himself.

I shrug. "If you say so..." I say. I walk to the opposite side of the table and seat myself across from the two teens.

"So?" I say. "What brings you here on this rainy day?"

Tsuna blanches and mutter one word. "Reborn..."

I nod and eye Tsuna teasingly. "A good mafia boss needs to know how to deal with enemies in all kinds of weather," I say playfully, and Tsuna gapes at me.

"I'm not going to be a mafia boss!" he says exasperatedly.

"Hai, hai..." I murmur idly, still smiling. Tsuna sighs, seeing that I obviously don't believe what he's said. And why would I? I know the future...

"So Reborn was training you in the rain..." I say to myself. Then I turn towards Gokudera, who's just finished drying himself. "Then why are you here?"

He scowls at me. "As the Tenth's right-hand man, I'll always be by his side, rain or shine!"

"Oh?" I say flatly, feigning admiration. "That's interesting."

He picks up on my sarcasm. "I'll blow you to bits one day, stupid woman!"

I sit in my seat and smile at him while Tsuna frantically calms him down. Ah, it's so refreshing to watch the bromance between Tsuna and Gokudera...

"Where's Reborn?" I suddenly wonder.

Tsuna shrugs and looks up apologetically from his Gokudera-calming. "We lost him in the rain around the same time we arrived in this area... that's why we decided to take shelter here."

"Hmm..." I say absentmindedly. An awkward silence envelopes the three of us while I think, making the sound of the rain outside more prominent. Reborn doesn't just disappear for no reason. He's got to be playing with Tsuna somehow.

On cue, a sharp crack echoes through the shop, sending my stomach to my throat and causing the three of us at the table to simultaneously pale and stiffen. A rough gust of wind suddenly blows past my face, sending my hair into hysterics, and a loud thud from the wall our table is leaning against follows shortly after, scaring the crap out of me for a second time. I robotically and shakily turn my head towards the wall. A bullet hole. There's a bullet hole on the wall.

I whip my head towards the bar, dreading what I'll see - and there's Reborn, standing on the countertop in all of his glory. Smoke lazily trails out of Leon, who's in his familiar form of a gun.

"Baka-Tsuna," Reborn says casually, "It's time to go home. Mama says lunch is ready."

"R-Reborn!" Tsuna yells frustratedly while Gokudera mutters a quick "Reborn-san." "Tell us that it's time for lunch in a normal way!"

Reborn smirks. "A true mafia boss is ready for anything."

Tsuna is about to scream about how irrelevant that is to his life, but a wicked gleam in Reborn's eyes tells him otherwise.

"Hurry up," says Reborn darkly. "I'm hungry."

Tsuna reluctantly places his towel on the table and scurries up from his chair, followed by Gokudera. I kind of wish I could go with them... but I promised Tsuyoshi, didn't I? I don't have any intentions of breaking that promise.

Reborn finally acknowledges me with a swift nod as Tsuna looks worriedly at the rain outside. "Anastasia."

I nod back. "Reborn," I say, willing my voice to refrain from cracking. I succeed.

I casually stand up with Tsuna and Gokudera, preparing to see them out. Is Reborn going to make them run in the rain...? My question is answered when Leon shape-shifts into an umbrella - for one.

"Hey, wait," I say to Tsuna and company, catching their attention. Curiously, I walk over to the shop's entrance. I'm pretty sure there were some umbrellas on the rack by the shop door...

Tsuna, Gokudera, and Reborn trail along behind me until we arrive at the door. The rain is still relentlessly singing the song of its people on the pavement, and a bit of cold air escapes into the shop through the doors.

I hand an umbrella to Tsuna, and begrudgingly hand one to Gokudera.

"Be careful on your way home."

Tsuna shoots me a grateful look, and surprisingly, Gokudera just remains silent, giving me a small scowl.

Tsuna turns towards me with a hesitant expression before stepping out into the rain. He looks worried... "You should be careful, too, Anastasia-chan..." he says. "I have a bad feeling about leaving you alone..."

I let out a small laugh. "That's all?" I say lightly. "Then don't worry. Nothing's going to happen when it's raining so hard outside. And I always have Yamamoto."  
I smile reassuringly, and Tsuna gives me a small smile in return.

I sigh as I watch Gokudera and Tsuna walk away through the rain, safe under their umbrellas. Alone yet again... maybe I'll go throw something on Yamamoto to wake him up. Like a truck.

A squeaky voice scares me out of my thoughts. It's Reborn, posing on the ground with his Leon umbrella.

"My student's intuition is almost never wrong, you know," says Reborn. He's still here? And anyways, he shouldn't know about Tsuna's Hyper Intuition yet; it's still too early. Then again, he is Reborn...

"Just be care-"

He's cut off when two middle-aged men bustle into the shop, triggering the ringing of the small bell hanging from the door. They're breathing heavily (from running through the rain, I presume) and pant as they close their umbrellas. Their entrance startles me a bit. I didn't even see them coming towards the shop in the downpour...

I look down towards where Reborn is standing, ready to respond - but he's gone.

For a moment, I stare at the spot where he was just standing, kind of freaked out. Then I quickly compose myself and direct my attention towards the two men.

A small wave of nervousness hits me when I realize that I've never actually dealt with customers. I was supposed to be washing dishes... but I guess it can't be helped. For now, I'll spew out the typical speech you get at restaurants and explain the situation.

"Welcome to Takesushi!" I say, a bit too cheerfully. My voice threatens to crack. "The chef is out right now, so if you came for food, you might have to wait for around half an hour."

Perhaps they'll leave and come back for dinner...

I observe them for the first time, and with a start, I realize that they're both wearing sunglasses. In the rain? Sorry guys, but trying to make yourselves look cool can only take you so far.

Each man wears a long (and old-fashioned, if I do say so myself) trench coat and business shoes, and as I observe them more, I realize that they look like foreigners. It's probably because one has blonde hair and the other is a brunet.

"That's all right," one of them says to me in a low voice. "We just came to take shelter from the rain. Perhaps we could get some water?"

Water? If you want water, go outside.

I smile brightly. "Certainly."

I gesture my hand towards the tables and begin stepping into the shop. "Please help yourself to a table."

I step behind the counter and make my way towards the kitchen as they seat themselves at the bar. Well, at least I don't have to cook... now it's just a matter of finding where the cups are. I wonder if tap water will work? No, I don't think the tap water in Japan is sanitary. I'm sure Tsuyoshi has a bottle along with some ice in the refrigerator.

Quickly, I swing open the cabinets in the kitchen, searching for cups. After I've located two, I peer into the freezer. A couple trays of ice sit on a rack near the top of the freezer, and I gently slide one out.

I halfheartedly think of how I can learn how to cook (if that's even possible) as I plop some ice cubes into the two cups that I've located, not really paying attention to the ice. Oh, wait... if I recall, Asian countries serve their water warm, without ice...

My train of thought crashes when one cube of ice slips out of my hands and lands with a small crack on the floor. Whoops...

I turn around, preparing to bend over... and kick the ice cube across the kitchen.

It slides gracefully across the floor as it melts, and I curse my clumsiness as I watch it slide under the banners that hide the kitchen from the restaurant. It's probably under the bar now...

Perhaps I should go clean it up? The customers are probably wondering why it's taking me so long to pour a simple two glasses of water. And if I go out there now without their order...

I drop to a crawl before nudging my way through the fabric banners hanging from the restaurant-kitchen door. I feel so stupid. I should have probably just left this darn ice cube to melt alone under the bar. Actually, I should have prepared the customers' orders before cleaning up. Oh well. I guess I didn't want Tsuyoshi to be upset that I'm leaving trails of water all throughout his shop.

I hear the muffled talking of the customers as I quickly and silently crawl towards the underneath of the bar. It's surprisingly clean under here... Tsuyoshi takes good care of his shop. There's that elusive ice cube, already completely melted by now. What a troll.

I'm about to start crawling back to the kitchen (what a sexist thought) when a snippet of the customers' conversation freezes me on the spot.

"... Vongola Decimo ... "

My skin prickles, and an unsettling feeling rips its way through my body. That title...

I strain my ears more and tune out the rain, suppressing my breathing and crouching as quietly as I can. Gradually, garbled sounds of their conversation start to take form... huh? It seems to be in a language I don't understand... but I thought I understood all languages...

Wait. The only language I don't understand... is Italian. I still have it turned off from that time I bumped into Dino. A realization hits me with a pang - it's a good thing I have it turned off, otherwise I would have spoken Italian to the two men when I greeted them at the door... and then I hate to think of what I would have revealed about myself.

Quickly and quietly, I squeeze my eyes shut and focus on the silence in my head, willing my brain to understand. Sounds of the outside world begin to fade... and then a popping sensation jerks my head forward, and I'm momentarily battered with the familiar dizzy spell as the world returns to normal. I should be able to understand Italian now.

I'm unnecessarily more nervous than I should be for some reason, and the sound of my heart beating fast reaches my ears as I try to calm down. My legs are starting to cramp...

I need to relax and focus. It's possible that what I heard wasn't even what I thought it was... they _were_ speaking in Italian, right?

I zone in on their conversation again.

"... her. She _was_ speaking to the Decimo, closely, wasn't she? We can use her as leverage."

My saliva catches in my throat. Leverage? Use me? Oh no. I desperately suppress the urge to cough as I continue to listen.

"Quiet down a bit. She'll hear us."

"Relax. She's still in the kitchen for some reason, and even if she did hear us, she can't understand Italian."

I hear a sigh. "Why her, though? Let's just go for the Decimo."

"We can't. The Hurricane Bomb and Reborn are constantly by his side. It'll be easier if we're handling a girl... and she's the first one we've seen that looks close to the Decimo."

My breath quickens, and a sliver of panic worms its way into my stomach. What do I do in this kind of situation? I open my mouth to help my breathing and slowly draw in deep breaths of air, remaining as quiet as possible. The mens' conversation blurs in my ears as I lose focus. _What should I do_?

My stomach lurches when I realize that Yamamoto is still upstairs.

My immediate thoughts are on protecting Yamamoto. I_ need to lure them away from the shop... now_. If any harm came to Yamamoto, if any damage was done to Tsuyoshi's shop... I'm sure I wouldn't be able to forgive myself.

But where in the world do I go? Dammit, there weren't even supposed to be assassins and crap like this until around episode 50! I mentally facepalm as I realize that I should have expected this. It's not like enemies would just magically leave the tenth boss of the Vongola family _alone_ while he was still weak, vulnerable, and in training. But since they don't show up in the manga or anime...

Does that mean _I'm_ handling them?

I pale.

HELL NO. I'M RUNNING.

Running because I've never actually fought someone in my life... and because I'm not willing to put anyone else in danger besides myself. As long as I can run far from the sushi shop and get these assassins to chase me... Yamamoto should be safe.

I mentally confirm this plan of action. Running is one of my athletic strong points, especially nowadays, when I never know when Yamamoto will swoop down and sling me over his shoulder (or when Hibari will bite me to death).

Loud footsteps break me out of thoughts, and I tense under the bar. The men start speaking again, and I quickly tune into their words.

"What's taking her so long?"

"I don't know... but I'm not taking any chances. Stay out here while I go find her."

A click echoes through the shop, and it takes me a moment to realize what is is: someone loading a gun.

HOLY SHIT. A GUN WAS NOT A FACTOR IN MY PLAN. ABORT MISSION; COMMENCE PLAN B.

I hear the footsteps of one of the men circle around the shop and step behind the bar... the bar which I'm hiding under. I automatically become rock still, forcing myself to slow my breathing down. They wouldn't actually shoot me, right? Leverage is useless when it's dead, _right_?

Damn that one ice cube that started all of this! Actually, bless that ice cube... I wouldn't know what's going on otherwise.

"Think... focus... think..." I think to myself, and squeeze my eyes shut. "I'm underneath the bar right now... man number one is behind the bar as well, approaching me fast... but I probably have a while before he finds me. Man number two is still in front of the bar, by the bar stools, guarding..."

An aerial view of the first floor of the shop materializes in my mind, and I scan the shop mentally. The kitchen is to my left, the entrance of the shop is at the end of the bar behind me, the tables are to my right past the bar, and the staircase is in front of me at the rear of the shop. The entrance of the shop is blocked by man number one, who's approaching me from the end of the bar. The staircase is definitely off limits, seeing as I'l have to circle past the end of the bar and then back across the shop, passing both man number one and man number two. If I go for the kitchen, man number one will see me... hell, if I go _anywhere_, man number one will see me. So what in the world do I do?

I need to focus more.

Even as I hear the footsteps of man number one drawing closer, I close my eyes and think, quickly drawing in the details of the shop into my mental map of the first floor. There's an umbrella rack by the door, a sink on the bar, tables and chairs on the restaurant floor, and...

Tsuyoshi's cutting board on the bar right above me - along with a selection of knives.

Knives... heck, they're better than the umbrellas on the umbrella rack, at least. Now there's the problem of obtaining them...

My breath catches when the shoes of man number one stop right by where I'm crouching under the bar. My heartbeat echoes in my head, reminding me of a certain skill I can use when I'm in tight situations...

TIME-STOPPING. Why didn't I think of it earlier? I really need to take my own advice about thinking before I act. Maybe now I won't have to use a knife...

The feet of man number one suddenly turn, causing my stomach to flip. Have I been discovered...? The feet pause momentarily... and head towards the kitchen. I shakily let out a breath, momentarily relieved.

If I'm going to use my skill, I need to use it now, before I'm discovered. But what should I do in the two minutes I have to escape? I need a game plan.

First of all, I'm definitely not going to kill anyone. I'm too much of a pansy for that, and the consequences would get me into more trouble than I'm in right now. In fact, I'd prefer to prevent inflicting damage on anyone at all... but if push comes to shove, I'll do what I need to do.

Maybe I can handcuff the men... perhaps Takesushi has some rope? No, why would a sushi shop carry rope?_  
_

Maybe I should stick with what I do best: being evasive. Am I willing to leave Yamamoto and the shop alone, though?

Definitely not Yamamoto, especially when he's sleeping. If the men find that I've escaped from the shop, I'm willing to bet that they're going to search upstairs. I wince when I realize I'll have to carry Yamamoto. What about Tsuyoshi? Tsuyoshi still has a good 20 minutes before he'll return to the shop.

As for the shop itself... I can only hope that the men will leave immediately when they realize that I've escaped. Escaped to where? I immediately think of Tsuna's house. Reborn said that they were eating lunch, right? If I can find Reborn...

Footsteps from my left snap me out of my thoughts. Man number one is coming out of the kitchen...

I nod to give myself a moral boost and squeeze my eyes shut. My plan's not too well thought out... but I can improvise as it comes into play. I allow myself a deep breath and then relax, shutting out the world and digging into my memories. Focus. Sounds from the outside world fade, and the sound of the rain on the roof of Takesushi blurs as the ghost of a familiar smell reaches my nose: parmesan cheese. My father appears in my mind, beaming at me and calling my name, and suddenly, it's like I'm really there... back in my dimension, before KHR, before everything happened...

A familiar pounding sensation rips its way through my body, jerking me out of my concentration, and I gasp as the world pulsates in front of my eyes. I hear my heartbeat slowing down, I feel the air becoming heavy, I see everything in the world losing motion except for me... and then everything is silent. The world is eerily quiet; even the pattering of the rain has stopped. My 120 seconds starts now.

1, 2...

I spring up from under the bar and dash out from behind it.

5, 6...

The stairs fall behind me two at a time as I dash towards Yamamoto's room.

16, 17...

God, this baseball player is heavier than a planet. Not to mention that he won't move because he's frozen in time... I hoist him into my arms and bend him into a bridal style position. Still really awkward... I grudgingly move his arms so that they're draped around my neck. It's more convenient this way.

38, 39...

I nearly trip on the stairs on my way down. Yamamoto's mouth is open, mid-snore... he looks like a puppy with his bed hair.

53, 54...

I pause by man number two on my way out. Then I smile sweetly at his frozen face and snatch the gun from his hands. My other arm nearly breaks from supporting Yamamoto. I toss the gun onto Yamamoto's stomach and tuck him into my chest a bit more so that it won't fall out.

62, 63...

I freeze when I step outside, gazing in wonder. Tiny, spherical drops of water are hanging delicately in the air, spreading as far as the eye can see. The rain is frozen in time.

I take a hesitant step forward... and the droplets roll around body and continue floating in the air, leaving no trace of ever having touched my skin. I'm completely dry.

79, 80...

I run.

90, 91...

I run as fast as a human can while carrying Yamamoto Takeshi, pumping my legs and spacing out my breaths. The frozen world passes by in a blur as I exhaust every bit of energy in my body, and a tunnel of air created by my movement cuts through the suspension of droplets behind me.

100, 101...

Why is Tsuna's house so far away?

110, 111...

I realize I can't hear the sound of my own feet running. When time is frozen, sound waves stop traveling...

112, 113...

It's weird that I don't feel warm or cold either. I suppose heat waves don't travel either when time is stopped?

114, 115, 116...

The air shimmers, signaling the return of time. As I continue to run, drops of water begin hitting my body in slow motion, soaking into my clothes. The air is suddenly light, and my breathing stabilizes, allowing me to run a bit faster. Particles of water in the air begin stretching into cylinders of liquid as they slowly start to fall to the ground, and I look down, shielding my eyes from the rain as I run.

With a cold explosion of sound, time bursts back into normality, sending furious sheets of rain down upon Yamamoto and I.

Yamamoto abruptly wakes up and lifts his head, only to see my boobs in his face.

Cue nosebleed.

"A-Ana?" he yells over the rain, tightening his arms around my neck to keep himself from falling. He's probably wondering where the heck he is.

I don't have the energy left to respond. The rain is fighting against me as I struggle to keep running, and I stumble before forcing myself to continue.

"Ana!" Yamamoto says again, concern lacing his voice.

I stop, panting heavily as the rain rushes down my body. Why am I feeling so lightheaded? I thought I could run farther than this... black spots cloud my vision as I look down at Yamamoto.

"Tsuna's house..." I say weakly. "Tell Reborn... to go to... the shop..."

Then my body gives.

My knees crumble, and moments later, my body hits the pavement. Yamamoto lands on top of me, and the gun skitters uselessly across the road. Ouch...

I take a few deep breaths to lessen the pain in my chest. My heart pounds heavily against my rib cage...

The last thing I hear before comforting darkness swallows my consciousness is the sound of Yamamoto yelling my name.

* * *

_I know, I'm bad at writing action. Heck, I didn't even expect to put any action in this story..But I suppose it can't be avoided. This is, after all, KHR._

_Thank you to _everybody_ who reviewed, followed, favorited, etc. It means a lot to me, and I'm really sorry that I'm slacking off on writing the story. (^_^) I just now figured out that you can reply to reviews via mail, so I'll try that out sometime._


End file.
